PAETY  ORGANIZATION 
AND  MACHINERY 


Zbc  Hmertcan  State  Series 


Eight  volumes  describing  comprehensively 
the  manner  in  wliich  tlie  (Tovernmental  agen- 
cies of  the  American  State  are  organized  and 
administered. 

Edited  by  W.  W.  WILLOUGHBY, 

Associate  Professor  of    Political   Science   at 

the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

Each  about  320  pages,  $1.25  net. 


THE  AMERICAN  CONSTITUTIONAL  SYSTEM. 
An  introduction  to  tlie  series,  by  tlie  Editor. 

CITY  GOVERNMENT  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
By  F  J.  GooDNow.  Professor  of  Administrative  Law, 
Columbia  University. 

PARTY  ORGANIZATION  By  Jesse  Mact,  Profts- 
Bor  of  Political  Science  at  Iowa  College. 

THE  AMERICAN  EXECUTIVE  AND  EXECUTIVE 
METHODS.  By  President  J.  H.  Finley,  College 
ot  the  City  of  New  York. 

AMERICAN  LEGISLATURES  AND  LEGISLA- 
TIVE METHODS.  By  Professor  Paul  R.  Reinsch, 
University  of  Wisconsin. 

THE  AMERICAN  JUDICIARY.  By  Simeon  E. 
Baldwin,  Associate  Justice  of  the  Sroreme  Court  of 
Errors  of  Connecticut,  and  Professorcf' Constitutional 
Law  in  Yale  University. 

TERRITORIES  AND  COLONIES.  By  W.  F.  Wil- 
LonoHBY,  Treasurer  of  Porto  Rico. 

LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  THE  UNITEDSTATES 
(CITIES  EXCEPTED).  By  Professor  John  A. 
Fairlie,  University  of  Michigan. 


Zbc  Century  Co.,  IRew  lork 


Zbc  Hmerican  State  Series 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION 
AND  MACHINERY 


BY 
JESSE   MACY 

PROFESSOR   OF   POLITICAL    SCIENCE 
AT  IOWA   COLLEGE 


tM^ifa^  *•■ 


NEW  YORK 

THE   CENTURY   CO. 

1904 


^"  ':^ 


Copyright,  1904,  by 
The  Century  Co. 


The  DeVinne  Press 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  The  Political  Cycle 3 

II  The  American  Party  as  a  Unifying  Agency  .  15 

III  Presidential  Leadership 25 

IV  Congressional  Leadership 43 

V  Party  Terminology 56 

VI  The  National  Committee 65 

VII  The  Congressional  Committee 87 

VIII  State  Party  Organization 96 

IX  Party  Organization  in  a  Republican  State— 

Pennsylvania Ill 

X  Democratic  Party  Organization  in  Pennsyl- 
vania        127 

XI  Party  Organization  in  a  New  England  State 

—Massachusetts 133 

XII  Parties  in  Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania 

Compared 145 

xm  Party  Organization  in  a  Typical  Doubtful 

State— Indiana 165 

XIV  Party  Organization  in  a  Democratic  State— 

Missouri 176 

XV  Party  Organization  in  the  South      .    .    .    .186 

V 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVI  Effect  of  the  City  upon  the  Party  System  198 

XVII  Party  Finance 218 

XVIII  The  Party  in  Power  and  the  Party  in  Op- 
position        230 

XIX  Party  Accessories 242 

XX  The  Party  as  a  Teaching  Agency    ....  256 

XXI  Party  Loyalty  ....  .    .         .  265 

Appendix ....  271 

Index 295 


VI 


PEEFACE 

This  work  is  intended  as  a  contribution  to  the  more 
perfect  understanding  of  the  American  party  system 
as  an  integral  part  of  the  political  institutions  of  the 
country.  Party  organization  is  described  in  its  re- 
lations to  presidential,  congressional,  and  senatorial 
leadership.  Party  Organization  and  Leadership 
would  have  been,  indeed,  as  consistent  a  title  as  the 
one  chosen. 

Much  difficulty  was  encountered  in  the  formulation 
of  a  plan  for  the  presentation  of  state  and  local  party 
organization.  The  one  finally  adopted  involved  the 
selection  of  certain  typical  States  and  localities  for 
illustrating  different  phases  of  local  organization. 
But  this  is  by  no  means  adequate  or  satisfactory.  A 
text  should  be  prepared  giving  full  and  authoritative 
information  as  to  party  organization  in  every  State 
and  Territory  of  the  Union.  In  States  where  party 
rules  are  printed,  little  would  be  required  except  to 
collect  and  publish  these.  Specimen  copies  of  such 
party  guides  are  given  in  the  Appendix  of  this  book. 
Future  publications  ought  to  make  it  as  easy  for  the 
citizen  and  the  student  to  gain  reliable  intelligence 

vii 


PREFACE 


concerning  the  party  organization  as  concerning  any 
other  part  of  the  government.  Indeed  the  necessity 
for  thorough  knowledge  of  party  machinery  is  pre- 
eminent, because  it  is  the  citizen's  only  means  of 
access  to  other  instruments  of  government.  The  good 
citizens  who  do  not  believe  in  the  party  system  should 
be  made  to  realize  that  the  maintenance  of  an  atti- 
tude of  aggressive  ignorance  toward  the  means  of 
government  now  in  use  tends  to  render  it  extremely 
improbable  that  a  superior  agency  will  be  discovered. 
The  author  is  indebted  to  the  editor  of  this  series 
for  many  helpful  suggestions.  Professor  James  A. 
Woodburn,  of  the  State  University  of  Indiana,  has 
rendered  timely  assistance.  From  him  was  received 
a  large  part  of  the  information  used  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  chapter  on  Indiana.  A  long  list  of  names 
might  be  given,  in  addition,  of  members  of  Congress 
and  other  public  officers,  of  members  of  the  various 
party  committees,  state  and  Federal,  of  newspaper 
reporters,  and  other  citizens  who  have  supplied  valu- 
able information  or  have  pointed  out  the  sources  of 
knowledge.  To  all  of  these  grateful  acknowledg- 
ments are  due. 

Jesse  Macy, 
Iowa  College,  Grinnell,  Iowa, 
September  17,  1904. 


VUl 


INTRODUCTION 

Thousands  of  years  of  slow  progress  toward  democ- 
racy have  marked  the  history  of  human  government; 
but  thus  far  only  an  imperfect  and  confused  idea  of 
the  democratic  state  has  been  attained  by  the  common 
citizen,  and  we  must  hence  conclude  that  the  establish- 
ment of  government  in  harmony  with  the  principles 
of  democracy,  government  through  the  formation  and 
expression  of  a  self-conscious,  authoritative  general 
will  and  purpose,  is  among  the  most  difficult  of  hu- 
man endeavors.  The  development  of  the  democratic 
state  is  opposed  not  alone  by  the  disposition  of  the 
strong  to  enslave  the  weak ;  a  far  greater  obstacle  has 
been  the  subjection  of  the  masses  of  the  people  to 
blind,  unreasoning  instinct  and  custom.  The  vol- 
untary association  of  subjects  to  resist  the  encroach- 
ments of  tyrannical  rulers  has  evolved  the  idea  of 
democracy.  In  this  way,  large  and  ever  larger  bodies 
of  men  have  become  trained  in  habits  of  forming 
and  executing  a  common  purpose,  and  despotism 
has  thus  contributed  to  its  own  downfall.  It  has 
always  been  an  easy  matter  for  powerful  subjects  to 
depose  an  obnoxious  ruler ;  but  it  has  been  exceedingly 
difficult  to  secure  in  place  of  the  tyranny  destroyed  a 
more  tolerable  form  of  government.  Many  states  have 
been  overthrown  through  conflicts  between  masters  and 

ix 


INTRODUCTION 


slaves,  or  between  tyrants  and  subjects.  Only  under 
rare  and  peculiar  conditions,  in  the  midst  of  peoples 
of  exceptional  morality  and  enlightenment,  has  there 
been  continuous  progress  toward  the  betterment  of 
government  by  the  substitution  for  the  will  of  rulers 
of  a  consciously  formed  general  will  on  the  part  of 
subjects. 

One  institution  there  is  which  is  peculiarly  fitted  to 
throw  much  needed  light  upon  the  mysterious  pro- 
cesses involved  in  this  slow  evolution  of  the  modern 
democratic  state.  The  political  party  has  appeared  in 
every  modern  state  where  the  principles  of  democracy 
have  secured  recognition.  Parties,  we  are  told,  have 
appeared  in  all  historic  states ;  but  this  is  true  or  false 
according  to  the  definition  of  the  term.  In  some  of 
the  modern  states  the  party  is  an  established  political 
institution  whose  professed  object  is  the  discovery  and 
expression  of  the  will  of  the  body  politic.  In  the' 
United  States,  and  in  the  various  states  of  the  British 
Empire,  distinct  party  government  exists ;  legislation, 
administration,  and  to  a  limited  extent  judicial  pro- 
cesses, are  in  the  hands  of  men  who  feel  joint  respon- 
sibility as  members  of  a  political  party.  The  party  in 
power  is  accountable  to  the  entire  people  for  the  well- 
being  of  the  state,  and  this  responsibility  is  enforced 
by  the  presence  of  a  rival  party  equally  united  and 
established,  equally  organized,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
\watch  the  conduct  of  the  party  in  office,  to  expose  its 
/defects,  to  criticize  its  policy,  and  in  case  of  its  failure 
^to  fulfil  the  general  will  to  displace  the  delinquent 
government  and  assume  its  responsibilities.       ^ 

It  is  quite  in  order  for  the  opponents  of  party  gov- 


INTRODUCTION 


ernment  to  maintain  that  the  system  fails  in  all  of  its 
professions ;  that  it  is  a  device  for  the  prevention  of  the 
expression  of  the  common  will ;  that  it  misleads  and  ob- 
scures public  opinion ;  that  it  is  simply  another  form  of 
despotism.  It  is  not  in  order,  however,  for  any  one  to 
deny  that  the  modern  party  is  an  interesting  and  im- 
portant political  institution  and  worthy  of  the  careful 
attention  of  the  student  of  government.  It  is  not  in 
order  for  one  who  would  throw  light  upon  the  progress 
of  political  thought  to  confuse  the  modern  party  with 
other  associations  and  organizations,  ancient  and  re- 
cent, which  happen  to  be  called  by  the  same  name. 
vEverything  vital  has  its  roots  in  the  past.  The  modern 
party  system  of  government  grew  out  of  former  con- 
ditions ;  yet  it  is  as  unique  in  its  leading  characteris- 
tics as  are  the  theories  of  the  modern  democratic 
state  with  which  it  has  been  in  close  association.  The 
friends  and  the  enemies  of  the  system  ought  to  find 
common  ground  in  the  admission  that  it  is  as  original 
and  as  distinct  from  all  that  has  gone  before  as  any- 
thing political  can  be.  Still  further  should  they  agree 
|in  conceding  that  it  is  not  an  artificial  product  inten- 
f  tionally  formed  and  projected  at  a  given  date.  In  its 
earlier  stages  especially,  it  came  without  observation. 
The  statesmen  who  inaugurated  the  policies  which 
finally  resulted  in  making  the  party  an  established 
political  institution,  were  wholly  unconscious  of  the 
ultimate  consequences  of  their  course.  The  party 
grew  and  became  dominant  in  spite  of  the  protests  of 
the  wise  and  the  learned.  Walpole  was  accustomed 
to  deny  that  England  was  governed  by  a  secret  con- 
clave of  Whigs.    Bolingbroke  perceived  the  tendency 

xi 


INTRODUCTION 


toward  the  establishment  of  government  by  party  and 
denounced  it  in  unmeasured  terms.  At  the  same  time 
he  recognized  the  fact  that  the  term  party  as  used  in 
the  time  of  Walpole  denoted  something  distinct  from 
the  earlier  political  factions.  Party  and  faction  he 
declared  to  be  both  bad;  but  he  conceded  that  the 
party  at  least  professed  to  seek  the  commonweal  and 
that  under  certain  conditions  it  may  be  wisely  used, 
while  he  accounted  faction  wholly  selfish  and  evil. 

While  the  party  is  found  in  every  state  in  which 
public  opinion  is  an  openly  recognized  factor,  the 
form  of  organization  exhibits  great  variety.  In  Eng- 
land during  the  eighteenth  century  the  cabinet  found 
means  of  harmonizing  the  legislative,  the  executive, 
and  a  limited  body  of  voters;  and,  as  the  head  of  a 
political  faction  or  party,  it  became  known  as  the 
party  in  power.  For  a  long  time  the  organization  was 
confined  chiefly  to  the  legislature ;  but  when  the  voting 
constituency  was  enlarged,  after  1832,  party  organi- 
zation was  extended  to  the  voters  themselves,  and  the 
English  party  system  has  since  been  adopted  in  the 
self-governing  colonies  of  the  Empire.  It  is  distinctly 
a  biparty  system ;  the  body  of  men  who,  for  the  time, 
conduct  the  government  has  the  support  of  a  majority 
in  the  legislature,  but  it  depends  for  its  existence  as  a 
party  upon  the  fact  that  it  is  confronted  by  the  leaders 
of  an  opposing  party  who  stand  ready  to  exchange 
places  so  soon  as  they  can  succeed  in  winning  the  ad- 
herence of  a  majority  of  the  legislature  and  of  the 
voters. 

A  different  type  of  party  organization  prevails  in 
various  states  of  Continental  Europe,  each  state  pre- 

xii 


INTRODUCTION 


senting  its  own  peculiarities.  All  are,  however,  alike 
in  this,  that  no  one  party  is  large  enough  to  control 
the  legislature,  majorities  being  secured  by  a  combi- 
nation of  party  groups.  Some  of  these  parties  repre- 
sent special  interests,  as  the  Church  or  the  landed 
aristocracy.  The  Socialists  in  Germany  and  some  of 
the  other  states  have  become  a  large  and  growing 
party  by  appealing  to  a  wider  range  of  interests,  and 
by  advocating  governmental  reforms.  But  in  none  of 
these  states  has  party  government  become  as  distinct 
and  definite  as  under  the  biparty  systems  of  England 
and  the  United  States.  In  all  their  varied  forms  and 
stages  of  development  the  European  parties  serve  as 
landmarks  on  the  way  to  democracy. 

America  has  contributed  to  world  politics  a  new 
system  for  the  federation  of  states.  Her  legislative 
procedure,  her  methods  of  administration,  and  the  re- 
lations of  the  executive  to  the  legislature,  are  distin- 
guished by  marks  of  originality.  America  was  the 
first  state  to  make  the  legislature  subject  to  the  judi- 
ciary ;  our  local  government,  the  government  of  cities, 
the  public  school  system,  are  peculiarly  our  own.  Yet, 
of  all  our  political  institutions,  not  one  is  so  new,  so 
entirely  made,  as  it  were,  out  of  whole  cloth  as  the 
American  party  system.  Like  the  English  it  involves 
two  equal  and  coordinate  parties;  but  the  English 
system  is  bipartizan  because  of  the  fusion  with  the 
cabinet  system  of  government,  while  in  America 
there  has  never  appeared  the  slightest  suggestion 
of  the  cabinet  form  of  government.  Some  superficial 
connection  can,  indeed,  be  made  out  between  the  two 
party  systems  from  the  fact  that  certain  opposing 

xiii 


INTRODUCTION 


opinions  had  come  to  be  associated  in  America  with 
the  English  party  names  Whig  and  Tory.  Jefferson 
stigmatized  the  Federalists  as  the  American  Tories; 
and  in  later  years  the  name  Whig  was  saddled  upon 
the  opponents  of  Jackson  through  the  far-fetched 
analogy  to  English  Whig  resistance  to  the  Stuarts  and 
to  George  III;  but  the  form  of  organization  of  the 
American  party  had  nothing  English  about  it. 

While  our  party  system  is  without  Old  World  mod- 
els, it  is  strikingly  in  harmony  with  our  other  forms 
of  political  activity.  The  same  qualities  and  condi- 
tions that  have  stamped  the  mark  of  originality  upon 
other  American  political  institutions  have  made  our 
party  government  unique.  Before  independence  was 
acquired  there  had  been  upon  the  Western  Continent 
nearly  two  hundred  years  of  practice  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  political  and  social  institutions  in  a  free  and 
open  field, — two  hundred  years  of  the  movement  of  an 
experienced  people  upon  vacant  lands  of  boundless  fer- 
tility and  extent.  After  independence  the  organizing 
went  on  in  the  wide  territory  of  the  West.  Settlers, 
self-moved,  invaded  new  regions  and  created  for  them- 
selves such  institutions  as  they  desired.  In  many  in- 
stances the  land  was  occupied  without  the  warrant  of 
law,  and  in  more  than  one  case  State  government  has 
been  organized  and  recognition  forced  upon  an  un- 
willing Congress.  When  we  are  told  that  the  Amer- 
'  ican  party  is  characterized^  by  an_  excess  of  organiza- 
.tion,  we  may  reply  that  America  has  had,'  in  compari- 
son with  the  old  world,  an  excess  of  organizing 
experience.  In  the  older  countries  men  are  the  sub- 
jects of  institutions  whose  origin  is  lost  in  obscurity. 

xiv 


INTRODUCTION 


Americans  know  when  and  how  their  political 
institutions  came  into  being.  If  their  party  organi- 
zation is  pronounced  artificial  they  remember  that  in 
that  particular  too  it  is  like  their  other  institutions, 
— like,  for  example,  that  vast  system  of  land  survey 
which  at  the  same  time  marks  the  limits  of  property, 
bounds  local  municipalities,  and  determines  the  loca- 
tion of  highways,  all  in  utter  disregard  of  the  physical 
features  of  the  country. 

The  two  great  organizations,  known  respectively  as 
the  Democratic  and  Republican  parties,  whose  rami- 
fications reach  to  every  voting  precinct  in  the  land, 
appear  to  be  as  permanent  a  part  of  the  government 
under  which  we  live  as  do  our  systems  of  local  govern- 
ment. They  have  been  more  than  a  hundred  years  in 
forming.  Jl'hey  have  all  that  time  had  arrayed  against 
them  a  large  and  influential  body  of  public  opinion, 
V  yet  they  have  continued  to  grow  until  the  great  multi- 
■S  tude  of  our  citizens  have  come  to  believe  that  no  other 
L  scheme  is  possible  in  a  country  such  as  ours..  And 
even  those  whose  convictions  are  opposed  to  the  system 
concede  that  it  must  last  until  a  better  one  is  evolved. 
Here  is  an  institution  which  from  every  point  of  view 
challenges  the  careful  attention  of  the  student  of  pol- 
itics. 

The  institutional  political  party  furnishes  the  first 
clearly  definable  agency  for  coordinating  and  express- 
ing the  general  will  of  the  subjects  of  a  large  and 
populous  state  in  such  a  way  as  to  provide  a  tolerable 
substitute  for  despotic  government.  Strange  indeed 
would  it  be  if  this  first  device  for  the  accomplishment 
of  a  task  hitherto  impossible  should  not  abound  in 

XV 


INTRODUCTION 


crudities  and  defects.  A  sense  of  imperfection  must  be 
associated  with  all  political  institutions  in  a  progres- 
sive state.  Only  thus  are  men  stimulated  to  adequate 
efforts  for  initiating  reforms.  But  the  political  party 
grew  out  of  contention;  from  the  very  nature  of  its 
functions  it  has  been  kept  in  the  field  of  rasping  con- 
troversy; by  virtue  of  those  functions  it  has  ever 
incurred  a  maximum  of  damaging  criticism,  while  at 
the  same  time,  in  America  at  least,  among  all  our 
varied  and  interesting  institutions  it  has  received  a 
minimum  of  impartial,  scientific  study  and  exposition.^ 

1  The  writings  of  Lord  Bolingbroke  are  especially  important 
for  the  light  they  throw  upon  the  evolution  of  the  party  from 
the  older  factions.  They  contain  an  early  suggestion  that,  un- 
der certain  conditions,  the  party  may  be  made  useful.  Burke's 
apotheosis  of  the  Whig  party  is  a  classic  instance  of  glorification 
of  party  by  a  party  leader.  Various  references  to  party  and  fac- 
tion found  in  Tlie  Federalist  illustrate  the  type  of  American  ideas 
which  prevailed  before  the  American  party  system  appeared. 
(See  paper  No.  X,  by  Madison.) 

April  12,  1808,  James  Hillhouse  introduced  a  bill  into  the 
United  States  Senate  for  changing  the  method  of  electing  the 
President,  with  the  object  of  saving  the  country  from  ruin 
through  party  organization.  The  remarks  upon  this  bill  by  mem- 
bers of  the  Senate,  the  references  to  the  subject  of  the  measure 
which  are  found  in  the  life  of  Timothy  Pickering  and  in  the  lec- 
tures of  Chancellor  Kent,  throw  much  light  upon  the  sentiment 
then  prevalent  against  party  organization.  Thomas  H.  Benton's 
"Thirty  Years  in  the  United  States  Senate"  exhibits  a  corre- 
sponding apprehension  at  the  time  of  the  development  of  the 
nominating  convention  system,  during  the  second  quarter  of  the 
century. 
r  Every  new  phase  in  the  growth  of  party  machinery  has  called 
forth  fresh  criticism  and  warning.  The  literature  hostile  to  the 
political  party  is  of  peculiar  importance  because  of  -its  portrayal 

xvi 


INTRODUCTION 


of  a  clear  recognition  of  the  party  as  a  distinct  political  institu- 
tion. 

Of  these  attacks  upon  the  party  system,  Ostrogorski's  work  is 
the  latest  and  in  many  respects  the  most  important.  No  one 
can  read  this  book,  however,  without  realizing  that  the  party 
system  is  a  positive  fact  to  be  reckoned  with.  Those  who  have 
written  in  defense  of  parties,  or  from  a  friendly  or  sympathetic 
spirit,  have  usually  failed  to  recognize  in  the  party  a  political 
institution  unique,  peculiar,  and  of  the  deepest  significance. 
Party  history  such  as  forms  a  part  of  campaign  literature  is  not 
the  history  of  a  party,  but  is  rather  political  history  from  a 
partizan  standpoint.  The  difficulty  of  distinguishing  party  his- 
tory from  political  history,  is  illustrated  in  the  experience  of  Mr. 
Gordy.  The  first  volume  of  his  work  was  issued  under  the  title 
of  ''A  History  of  Political  Parties"  ;  but  in  the  hands  of  review- 
ers the  book  was  shown  to  be  an  excellent  political  history,  but 
not  a  history  of  parties.  The  title  was  afterward  changed  to 
correspond  with  the  facts.  In  a  review  of  Mr.  Gordy's  book,  Pro- 
fessor F.  J.  Turner  points  out  the  manner  in  which  a  true  history 
of  political  parties  might  be  written ;  but  before  such  a  work  as 
he  describes  would  meet  with  due  appreciation,  there  must  have 
been  created  a  reading  public  capable  of  understanding  what  the 
historian  is  talking  about. 

While  Mr.  Bryce  was  engaged  in  collecting  material  for  ''The 
American  Commonwealth,"  he  was  astonished  to  find  that  no  one 
had  taken  in  hand  a  description  of  the  party  system.  Much  had, 
indeed,  been  wi'itten  about  parties,  but  their  importance  as  an 
integral  part  of  our  political  system  had  escaped  notice.  Mr. 
Bryce's  own  chapters  on  the  subject  are  of  especial  interest  as 
an  introduction  to  a  new  type  of  expository  party  literature. 


xvil 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND 
MACHINERY 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND 
MACHINERY 


CHAPTER  I^ 


THE   POLITICAL    CYCLE 


American  party  machinery  has  for  its  professed  ob- 
ject the  securing  and  maintaining  of  control  over  the 
executive  and  legislative  departments  of  government. 
In  its  dual  aspects  it  has  grown  up  around  the  Presi- 
dency, and  its  most  manifest,  most  spectacular,  and, 
in  the  general  public  view,  most  important  purpose  is 
that  connected  with  the  choice  of  the  Chief  Magistrate. 
The  election  of  a  President  is,  however,  but  one  of  its 
many  functions,  though  that  may  be  regarded  as  the 
culmination  of  its  activities  and  that  upon  which  all 
others  have  an  ultimate  bearing. 

The  national  political  life  falls  into  a  series  of 
periods  four  years  in  length.  A  political  cycle  begins 
and  ends  with  the  election  of  a  President,  when  the 
public  excitement  reaches  its  highest  point  and  then, 
under  the  ordinary  conditions,  quickly  subsides. 
Taking  the  presidential  year— the  year  of  the  great 
conventions,  the  campaign,  and  the  final  election— as 
the  end  of  the  series  and  the  period  of  transcendent 
interest,  the  year  following  may  be  reckoned  the  be- 

3 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND   MACHINERY 

ginning  of  the  new  cycle,  when  organization  appears  to 
the  uninstructed  observer  to  lie  dormant  and  public 
interest  is  at  its  lowest  ebb. 

The  remarkable  events  of  the  preceding  year,  which 
have  brought  out  into  strong  light  before  the  people 
the  gigantic  agencies  in  use  for  ascertaining  and  regis- 
tering the  popular  will,  the  intense  efforts  of  the  op- 
posing party  organs  in  the  great  struggle,  the  stupen- 
dous exliibition  of  skill,  of  earnestness,  and  of 
determination,  all  have  tended  to  obscure  and  divert 
attention  from  many  important  facts  respecting  party 
organizations  and  their  permanent  and  unceasing 
usefulness.  The  time  of  least  pronounced  activity 
may,  therefore,  be  the  most  convenient  for  the  begin- 
ning of  a  definite  study  of  parties  and  party  action. 

Each  year  of  the  quadrennial  period  has  its  own 
peculiar  political  significance.  In  each  year  elections 
occur  in  all  of  the  States,  and  all  have  to  the  eye  of 
the  politician  some  bearing  upon  the  final  contest  of  the 
presidential  year.  The  first  year  of  the  quadrennial 
cycle  is  an  odd-numbered  year,  since  the  presidential 
election  always  occurs  upon  an  even-numbered  year. 
Reaction  has  followed  the  supreme  political  effort; 
many  of  the  extraordinary  party  agencies  are  dis- 
banded; the  new  administration  has  scarcely  become 
established  or  manifested  its  distinctive  character ;  no 
Federal  officers  are  to  be  chosen  ;  no  Federal  policies  or 
principles  are  involved.  It  would  appear  that  only 
state  and  local  interests  need  be  at  all  considered. 
There  is,  however,  one  point,  even  on  this  first  of  the 
"off  years,"  where  state  and  Federal  politics  touch. 
Because  one  third  of  the  members  of  the  Senate  of  the 

4 


THE   POLITICAL   CYCLE 


United  States  are  elected  every  two  years,  some  of  the 
States  will  this  year  elect  members  of  the  state  legis- 
lature who  will  help  to  choose  a  senator  of  the  United 
States.  For  the  nomination  and  election  of  the  state 
and  local  officers  the  national  party  organizations  are 
called  into  play  in  all  the  States  and  exercise  complete 
control.  Nominations  are  made  through  the  use  of 
party  machinery ;  party  lines  are  recognized  in  the 
selection  of  candidates ;  party  committees  look  after 
the  registration  of  voters  and  conduct  the  canvass. 

For  this  use  of  party  agencies  when  no  partizan 
policy  is  directly  involved  a  variety  of  reasons  may  be 
given.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  economical  to  make  use 
of  the  already  existing  machinery  to  accomplish  the 
necessary  business  rather  than  to  do  the  work  with 
unusual  effort  and  pains  by  the  creation  of  new  forms 
and  methods.  Again,  party  managers  sometimes  take 
especial  care  to  give  impetus  to  the  party  organs  in 
an  **off  year,"  because  of  the  conviction  that  it 
strengthens  the  party  to  use  its  agencies  whenever 
opportunity  offers.  It  is  considered  a  good  party  habit 
to  marshal  all  the  voters  and  bring  them  to  the  polls  at 
every  election.  The  moral  effect  also  of  a  party  vic- 
tory at  such  a  time  is  accounted  important  in  its  re- 
lations to  the  great  contest  of  the  presidential  year. 

The  year  midway  between  two  presidential  elec- 
tions, an  even-numbered  year,  is  of  especial  impor- 
tance, because  then  an  entire  new  House  of  Represen- 
tatives is  chosen  by  direct  vote  of  the  people,  and  the 
same  year  one  third  of  the  membership  of  the  national 
Senate  is  renewed  by  the  action  of  state  legislatures. 
The  elections  of  this  second  year  of  the  quadrennial 

5 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

cycle  have  the  same  effect  upon  the  composition  of  the 
Federal  legislature  as  do  those  of  the  presidential  year. 
Since  they  bear  so  directly  upon  national  politics  these 
elections  are  watched  and  guided  with  the  greatest 
care  by  the  managers  of  the  party  organizations.  The 
administration  has  now  shown  its  spirit  and  policy 
and  the  country  is  given  an  opportunity  to  indorse 
or  disavow  its  course.  It  is,  par  excellence,  the  period 
of  criticism  of  the  administration,  and  effects  of  the 
general  discussion  appear  in  the  autumn  elections. 
As  a  rule,  the  House  of  Representatives  elected  in 
presidential  years  has  a  majority,  more  or  less  strong, 
of  the  party  which  has  elected  the  President;  but  by 
the  elections  of  this  mid-period  that  majority  may  be 
entirely  reversed.  Since  1874  this  has  happened  fre- 
quently. Examples  readily  recalled  are  those  of  1890, 
during  Harrison's  administration,  and  1894,  in  Cleve- 
land's second  term. 

The  second  odd-numbered  year  of  the  cycle,  as  that 
immediately  preceding  the  presidential  election,  shows 
most  clearly  the  influence  of  that  approaching  event. 
Although  only  state  and  local  officers  are  to  be  chosen 
and  the  only  bearing  of  the  elections  of  this  year  upon 
Federal  politics  is  through  the  fact  that  some  of  the 
state  legislatures  chosen  will  elect  United  States 
senators,  yet  interest  is  sustained  by  the  injection  into 
the  campaign  of  an  unusual  amount  of  attention  to 
national  issues  and  there  is  marked  party  activity 
throughout  all  sections  of  all  the  States.  Every  step 
of  the  procedure  is  ordered  and  controlled  by  respon- 
sible party  agents  under  the  influence  of  the  national 
party  committees.     Candidates  are  nominated,  regis- 

6 


THE   POLITICAL  CYCLE 


tration  lists  scrutinized,  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
party  workers  put  into  service  in  order  to  bring  out 
a  full  vote,  all  with  a  view  to  the  ultimate  effect  upon 
party  fortunes  in  the  coming  year.  The  occasion  fur- 
nishes a  test  for  the  party  machinery.  Every  wheel 
and  cog  and  shaft  is  thoroughly  polished,  every  belt 
and  lever  is  carefully  examined,  weak  points  are 
strengthened,  and  the  whole  is  judiciously  oiled,  that 
all  may  be  in  readiness  for  the  critical  operations  for 
which  the  great  engine  primarily  exists. 

For  the  fourth  and  closing  year  of  the  political 
cycle  all  party  activities  are  intensified  and  popular 
interest  greatly  quickened.  Party  committees  are 
multiplied  and  the  labors  of  party  leaders  become  in- 
creasingly exacting.  Every  State,  in  addition  to  state 
and  local  officials,  chooses  members  of  the  lower  House 
of  Congress  and  the  required  number  of  presidential 
electors,  while  the  members  of  the  state  legislatures  are 
selected  with  a  view  to  their  action  in  the  election  of 
United  States  senators.  Over  all  the  national  com- 
mittees exercise  the  keenest  and  closest  supervision. 

The  comprehensive  and  all-pervading  nature  of 
party  organization  in  America  enforces  the  need  for 
a  general  understanding  and  appreciation  of  the  place 
and  mission  of  the  party  in  the  national  life.  Party 
issues  and  the  doctrines  which  form  the  basis  of  party 
divisions,  all  pertain  to  the  legislative  and  executive 
policies  of  the  general  government.  Only  the  Presi- 
dent and  members  of  Congress  represent  distinctive 
party  principles.  But  party  organizations  neverthe- 
less control  the  filling  of  nearly  all  offices  in  the  gift 
of  the  people.    The  governors  of  States  and  the  mem- 

7 


^ 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

bers  of  state  legislatures  are  chosen  with  as  strict  ref- 
erence to  party  lines  as  are  the  corresponding  Federal 
officers.  In  all  the  States,  also,  the  local  offices  in 
counties,  cities,  and  townships  are  filled  through  the 
agencies  of  the  one  all-embracing  national  organ. 

An  exception  to  this  general  fact  is  commonly  seen 
in  the  elections  of  local  school-boards.  There  is  a  wide- 
spread sentiment  in  favor  of  conducting  the  work  of 
education  without  regard  to  party  divisions.  School 
elections  are  usually  held  in  the  spring,  at  the  time 
farthest  removed  from  political  excitement,  and  the 
nominations  and  elections  take  place  without  the  use 
of  party  machinery.  But  in  general  few  voters  par- 
ticipate in  such  elections,  and  if,  from  any  cause,  a 
widespread  and  sustained  interest  is  aroused  in  a 
series  of  school  elections  the  party  engine  is  likely  to 
be  brought  into  use. 

A  similar  view  has  prevailed  in  respect  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  cities,  and  city  elections  have  also  been 
separated  from  the  general  state  elections.  Yet,  in 
most  cases  the  political  parties  have  continued  to  domi- 
nate city  government,  and  municipal  elections,  fixed 
though  they  are  in  many  States  in  the  spring,  only  fur- 
nish an  additional  occasion  for  bringing  into  play  the 
ordinary  party  machinery  and  another  opportunity  to 
test  the  party  spirit  after  the  frosts  of  winter. 

The  difficulty  of  removing  an  office  from  partizan 
control  is  successfully  dealt  with  in  one  effective  way 
by  the  use  for  the  purpose  of  the  regular  party  or- 
ganizations. Party  leaders  have  in  some  localities 
reached  the  conclusion  that  the  State  would  be  better 
served  by  placing  the  judiciary  outside  the  reach  of 

8 


THE   POLITICAL   CYCLE 


party  contests.  It  has  then  been  found  possible  for 
the  leaders  of  the  opposing  organizations  to  agree  upon 
a  method  of  nomination  and  election  mutually  satis- 
factory, and  as  long  as  such  an  agreement  holds  par- 
tizanship  is  effectually  removed.  Party  organs  them- 
selves can  make  and  keep  an  election  non-partizan. 
It  is  next  to  impossible  for  any  other  power  to  do  so. 

With  one  exception  all  the  political  institutions 
which  Americans  have  created,  have  abounded  in 
checks  and  balances  and  limitations  of  jurisdiction. 
The  party  alone  is  an  institution  without  checks  or 
balances  or  limitations  of  power,  except  such  as  arise 
from  the  dual  nature  of  the  institution  itself.  The  two 
parties  do  constantly  condition  and  modify  each 
other.  One  may  be  overpowered  by  the  other.  But, 
apart  from  the  restraint  which  each  party  exercises 
upon  the  conduct  of  its  opponent,  our  party  organiza- 
tions, in  their  present  phase  of  development,  are  the 
most  thoroughly  centralized  of  American  institutions. 

One  might  suppose  that  through  its  own  hierarchy 
of  permanent  officials  each  party  might  provide  within 
itself  a  series  of  restraining  influences  which  would 
constitute  effective  checks  and  balances.  The  party 
organization  corresponds  to  the  various  governmental 
areas  in  our  complex  Federal  system.  Each  has  its 
national  committee,  its  state  central  committee  in 
every  State ;  its  county,  township,  ward,  and  district 
committees.  Why  not  assume  that  the  state  and  local 
committees  would  exercise  independent  powers  corre- 
sponding to  their  governments  ?  In  a  limited  way  they 
do.  Yet  thus  far  party  names  have  stood  almost 
wholly  for  Federal  policies.    Local  issues  and  policies 

9 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

have  been  ignored.  State  and  local  committees  have 
thus  been  made  to  feel  that  their  sole  reason  for  ex- 
istence as  party  officials  was  the  fulfilment  of  the  be- 
hests of  those  near  the  source  of  authority.  From  the 
very  nature  of  its  professed  object  the  party  has  been 
controlled  by  the  President,  the  members  of  Congress, 
and  the  national  committees. 

It  is  by  no  means  to  be  inferred  that  this  extreme 
centralization  within  the  party  itself  is  necessary  or 
desirable,  or  that  the  wide  variations  in  local  condi- 
tions and  local  needs  is  not  even  now  matter  for  con- 
sideration and  regard  by  the  national  party  organs. 
It  is  even  essential  to  the  strength  of  the  party  that 
its  machinery  should  be  flexible  enough  to  adapt  itself, 
in  some  degree  at  least,  to  local  requirements  in  the 
different  States.  The  state  central  committee  in  each 
State,  with  its  chairman  and  secretary,  who  receive 
and  execute  orders  from  above,  exercises  much  leeway 
as  to  its  course  in  respect  to  matters  purely  local. 
Since  state  politics  is  so  separate  and  distinct  from 
Federal  politics,  it  is  possible  for  the  state  committee 
to  interest  itself  in  many  concerns  of  state  policy 
quite  independently  of  the  instructions  of  the  na- 
tional committee.  This  is  often  done.  Leaders  of  the 
party  within  the  State  project  and  carry  out  purely 
state  party  policies.  In  theory  at  least  it  strengthens 
the  position  of  the  national  organization  for  its  local 
branches  in  the  State  to  satisfy  local  needs,  and  each 
of  the  great  parties  permits  a  wide  range  of  adapta- 
tion in  the  party  organism  for  the  purpose.  The 
party  seeks  to  build  its  own  achievements  into 
the    unique    and    peculiar    life    of    each    individual 

10 


THE   POLITICAL   CYCLE 


State.  Party  usefulness  along:  this  line  has  been 
hitherto  restricted  by  lack  of  understandings  of 
the  beneficent  possibilities.  As  the  highly  cen- 
tralized party  organization  has  actually  been  worked, 
it  has  often  interfered  with  local  well-being 
or  has  sacrificed  it  to  the  supposed  national  in- 
terest. With  a  better  and  more  general  knowledge  of 
the  place  and  the  work  of  the  political  party  its  local 
efficiency  and  beneficence  may  be  vastly  enhanced. 
Public  attention  has  been  concentrated  too  much  upon 
the  purely  Federal  aspect  of  party  conduct;  in  fact, 
by  far  the  larger  proportion  of  the  labor  of  the 
machine  is  expended  in  the  management  of  party 
affairs  within  the  States  and  the  lesser  political  areas. 
Of  all  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  party  workers 
throughout  the  land,  only  a  small  minority  are  di- 
rectly engaged  in  the  business  connected  with  choosing 
the  few  Federal  officers— the  President,  Vice-Presi- 
dent, and  members  of  Congress.  In  the  minor  gov- 
ernmental divisions  of  the  States  the  innumerable 
party  agents  every  year,  and  year  after  year,  operate 
the  party  appliances  for  filling  the  thousands  of  local 
offices  and  carrying  on  local  party  business  which  has 
only  a  remote  bearing  upon  national  party  objects. 

One  example  of  serious  maladjustment  between  the 
constitution  of  the  political  party  and  that  of  the 
United  States  demands  attention.  The  rise  of  a  cen- 
tralized, autocratic  organization  to  control  the  entire 
process  of  nomination  and  election  to  office  was  not 
contemplated  by  the  framers  of  the  national  Constitu- 
tion. As  soon  as  the  party  appeared  it  was  found 
that  the  constitutional  method  of  electing  the  Presi- 

11 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

dent  had  become  impossible.  The  Constitution  as- 
sumed that  presidential  electors  would  be  chosen  who 
would  act  upon  their  own  judgment.  The  party  in- 
stitution has  reduced  those  electors  to  subordinate 
ministerial  agents,  and  the  people,  in  effect,  elect  their 
President  as  if  voting  directly  for  him.  Harmony  be- 
tween party  and  Constitution  has  been  attained  by 
changing  the  Constitution. 

A  similar  difficulty  not  yet  overcome  arises  from  the 
indirect  method  of  electing  United  States  senators. 
It  is  not  so  easy  here  to  harmonize  the  Constitution  and 
party  necessities.  By  but  one  approach  the  voter  has 
access  both  to  his  state  and  his  national  government. 
The  one  party  nominates  candidates  for  the  state 
legislature  and  for  the  two  Houses  of  Congress.  It 
often  happens  that  a  voter  finds  himself  in  accord 
with  one  of  the  parties  in  respect  to  state  policy  and 
with  the  opposing  party  in  respect  to  Federal  policy. 
In  choosing  members  of  the  lower  House  of  Congress, 
such  a  voter  is  entirely  free  to  act  upon  his  prefer- 
ences. He  may  vote  for  the  Democratic  candidate  for 
Congress  and  vote  at  the  same  time  for  the  Republi- 
can candidate  for  his  state  legislature.  But  a  voter 
has  no  such  liberty  in  respect  to  choosing  mem- 
bers of  the  upper  House  of  Congress.  If  he 
approves  the  policy  of  one  party  in  state  politics 
and  of  the  opposite  party  in  Federal  politics,  he  is 
compelled  to  sacrifice  his  convictions  upon  one  side  or 
the  other.  If  he  votes  for  such  men  for  the  state 
legislature  as  represent  his  views  on  state  affairs,  he 
will  be  forced  to  participate  in  choosing  a  United 
States  senator  whom  he  disapproves. 

12 


THE   POLITICAL   CYCLE 


This  important  defect  in  the  adjustment  of  our  po- 
litical machinery  is  sure  to  grow  more  apparent  as  the 
burdens  of  state  increase.  A  fundamental  principle 
of  a  purely  Federal  system  of  government  is  the  par- 
titioning- of  powers,  one  portion  being  assigned  to  the 
general  government  and  exercised  by  its  own  separate 
agencies,  while  the  powers  not  thus  assigned  are  re- 
served to  the  States  to  be  exercised  by  state  and  local 
agencies.  State  and  Federal  governments  are  made  as 
distinct  as  possible,  both  in  respect  to  the  sorts  of 
business  appertaining  to  them  and  in  respect  to  the 
agencies  through  which  each  transacts  its  part  of  the 
governmental  business.  Now,  for  the  Constitution  to 
compel  the  voter  to  vote  by  one  and  the  same  act  for 
a  member  of  his  state  legislature  and  express  a  pref- 
erence for  a  member  of  the  United  States  Senate  is  to 
do  violence  to  this  most  fundamental  principle  of 
our  Constitution. 

It  was  not  the  intention  of  the  makers  of  the  Consti- 
tution that  the  common  voter  should  be  permitted  to 
exercise  any  choice  at  all  in  the  election  of  either  the 
President  or  the  members  of  the  Senate.  Those  fea- 
tures of  the  Constitution  which  embody  the  distrust 
of  the  fathers  in  democratic  government  exhibit, 
as  Mr.  Bryce  has  said,  an  excessive  belief  in  total 
depravity  and  original  sin.  They  were  convinced  that 
the  people  were  not  to  be  trusted.  If  the  choice  of 
senators  had  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  specially 
chosen  electors  with  no  other  functions,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  President,  the  party  system  would  have  made 
short  work  with  the  device  of  the  Constitution-makers 
in  this  particular  also.    But  by  fixing  the  election  in 

13 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND   MACHINERY 

the  state  legislatures  they  established  an  illogical  and 
contradictory  principle  in  the  government.  Evi- 
dently they  did  not  anticipate  our  party  system. 
Were  this  maladjustment  out  of  the  way  the  local 
party  organs  in  the  various  States  might  have  almost 
limitless  powers  of  adjustment  to  local  needs.  Re- 
taining the  same  party  names  and  utilizing  the  same 
party  machinery,  the  voters  would  still  be  wholly  free 
to  express  their  convictions  on  every  question  in- 
volved in  an  election.  They  would  not  be  compelled 
to  sacrifice  their  wishes  respecting  a  proposed  reform 
in  the  school  system  of  their  own  States  because  of 
their  belief  in  the  superior  importance  of  the  cur- 
rency policy  of  the  Federal  government.^ 

1  The  recurring  nominations  and  elections  in  the  various  local- 
ities are  matters  of  common  observation  and  experience.  One 
who  is  capable  of  reading  political  literature  with  profit  has  in 
himself  a  fund  of  accumulated  political  knowledge.  He  holds 
opinions  and  convictions  which  are  subject  to  modification  by 
passing  political  events;  he  also  has  memories  of  past  experi- 
ences, and  is  in  the  habit  of  comparing  them  with  those  of  the 
present ;  he  enlarges  his  own  vision  by  contact  with  other  observ- 
ers. He  who  makes  the  most  of  such  original  sources  of  in- 
formation is  in  a  way  to  become  his  owai  guide  to  the  selection  of 
literature  suited  to  his  own  needs.  Those  who  neglect  these 
primary  sources  are  likely  to  become  victims  of  political  humbug. 

The  daily  and  weekly  press  is  by  far  the  most  important  pur- 
veyor of  political  information,  and  its  supplies  are  adapted  to  the 
demands  of  both  sorts  of  readers— those  who  study  politics 
seriously,  by  direct  observation,  and  those  who  prefer  to  be  hum- 
bugged. Some  of  the  gi'eat  dailies  accommodate  busy  people  by 
issuing  an  annual  political  almanac.  Mr.  Stan  wood's  volume  on 
'^Presidential  Elections"  gives  a  convenient  summary  of  the  oc- 
currences in  the  final  year  of  the  successive  quadrennial  periods, 

14 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  AMERICAN  PARTY  AS  A  UNIFYING  AGENCY 

Parties,  as  we  have  seen,  are  the  agencies  for  formu- 
lating and  controlling  both  executive  and  legislative 
policies.  In  the  cabinet  system  as  it  appears  in 
England  or  in  Canada  is  seen  the  simplest  illustra- 
tion of  the  relation  of  the  party  organization  to  po- 
litical control.  This  system  involves  the  complete 
fusion  of  legislative  and  executive  powers.  The  small 
body  of  men  who  constitute  the  cabinet  are  at  the 
same  time  responsible  for  the  control  of  both  legisla- 
tion and  administration.  The  members  of  the  cabinet 
are  the  heads  of  the  chief  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  the  cabinet  as  a  whole,  with  the  prime 
minister  as  its  leader,  is  held  responsible  for  the  ex- 
ecutive branch  of  the  government  business.  At  the 
same  time  the  majority  in  the  national  legislature  is 
also  controlled  by  the  cabinet.  That  body  is,  in  effect, 
the  party  in  power.  It  centralizes,  personates,  and 
represents  the  political  party  which  has  succeeded  in 
gaining  the  ascendency  in  the  legislature. 

The  English  cabinet  system  cannot  work  un- 
less the  voting  constituency  consents  to  divide 
into  two  parties — the  party  in  power  represented 
by  the  cabinet  and  its  supporters  in  the  legisla- 
ture,    and     the     party     of     the     opposition,     whose 

15 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND  MACHINERY 

leaders  are  also  members  of  the  legislature  and 
the  chief  party  spokesmen.  Whenever  the  oppo- 
sition can  win  the  support  of  a  majority  in  the 
House  of  Commons  the  parties  change  places,  and 
a  new  cabinet  is  appointed,  unless  the  party  in  power 
by  dissolving  the  House  and  "appealing  to  the  coun- 
try" may  succeed  in  electing  a  new  House  having  a 
majority  of  its  own  supporters.  In  such  a  government 
there  can  be  no  national  party  apart  from  these  two. 
The  cabinet  is  the  self-constituted  national  com- 
mittee of  its  party,  while  the  group  of  statesmen  com- 
posing the  opposition,  who  expect  to  form  the  next 
cabinet,  may  be  called  the  national  committee  of  the 
other  party.  These  leaders  also  perform  the  duties 
assigned  to  the  national  conventions  in  America. 
They  formulate  platforms,  give  directions  to  local 
party  officers,  and  conduct,  in  person,  political  cam- 
paigns. The  statesmen  who  do  the  governing  are  also 
the  responsible  party  managers. 

In  a  government  of  divided  and  distributed  powers, 
such  as  that  of  the  United  States,  it  is  not  possible 
to  secure  that  simplicity  of  party  leadership  which  is 
involved  in  the  cabinet  system.  The  President  of  the 
United  States  and  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  sep- 
arately do  the  work  which,  in  England,  is  in  the  hands 
of  the  cabinet  alone.  Party  leadership  in  America 
is,  therefore,  generated  out  of  the  separate  agencies  of 
the  executive  and  legislative  departments  of  govern- 
ment. It  would  be  impossible  in  Great  Britain  for  a 
party  committee  acting  independently  of  the  cabinet 
to  gain  control  or  influence  in  party  management. 
From  the  very  necessities  of  the  governing  business 

16 


THE  AMERICAN  PARTY  AS  A  UNIFYING  AGENCY 


which  they  have  in  hand,  the  statesmen  themselves 
must  maintain  direct  authority  over  the  machinery 
for  the  election  of  members  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
The  cabinet — the  simple,  centralized  party  machine 
—must  dominate,  so  long  as  it  remains  in  power,  the 
business  of  legislation,  and  at  the  same  time  carry 
on  the  administration  of  the  government. 

Another  marked  difference  between  the  institutions 
of  England  and  the  United  States  should  be  remem- 
bered in  this  connection.  The  Old  Country  has  neither 
the  States  nor  the  local  governments  familiar  to  the 
citizens  of  America.  The  English  Parliament  may 
abolish  at  its  will  any  local  government  in  the  king- 
dom. The  controlling,  centralized  party  machine  is 
also  the  responsible  law-making  and  governing  ma- 
chine for  all  purposes,  local  as  well  as  general.  To 
this  the  United  States  furnishes  a  striking  contrast. 
While  in  England  the  only  local  governments  of  any 
importance  which  the  people  possess  are  those  which 
have  been  recently  bestowed  upon  them  by  the  all- 
powerful  Parliament,  in  the  United  States  the  people 
have  created  for  themselves  a  series  of  local  govern- 
ments,—tow^ns,  townships,  counties,  and  cities, — many 
of  them  far  older  than  the  States  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment, and  with  a  varied  and  most  interesting  his- 
tory. As  a  matter  of  law,  the  general  government  of 
the  State  has  power  to  establish,  to  change,  or  to 
abolish  these  local  institutions;  yet  in  fact,  such  a 
proceeding  would  be  unthinkable.  American  local 
organizations  are,  in  many  cases,  as  permanent  in 
their  leading  characteristics  as  anything  in  the  Amer- 
ican State. 

2  17 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

Moreover,  the  governments  of  the  separate  States, 
including,  as  they  do,  the  firmly  established  local  in- 
stitutions, are  made  legally  independent  and  exempt 
from  the  control  of  the  Federal  power  in  respect  to 
a  wide  range  of  interests.  To  state  and  local  gov- 
ernments pertain  the  exercise  of  the  numerous  powers 
which  most  directly  concern  the  daily  well-being  of  the 
citizen,  such  as  police,  sanitation,  and  education,  the 
maintenance  of  highways,  and  the  care  of  the  defec- 
tive and  unfortunate. 

Finally,  a  limited  number  of  powers  and  duties 
assumed  to  be  of  general  consequence  to  all  the  people 
has  been  conferred  upon  the  general  government, 
which  exercises  its  functions  by  means  of  its  own  sep- 
arate officials.  The  national  Congress  does  not  legis- 
late for  States  nor  for  local  governments  w^ithin  the 
States.  With  these  it  is  not  allowed  in  any  way  to 
interfere.  It  can  act  only  within  the  scope  of  the  few 
powers  conferred.  Neither  can  Congress  call  upon 
States  or  local  organizations  to  execute  its  laws.  The 
execution  of  Federal  law  belongs  to  the  general  gov- 
ernment. At  the  same  time,  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  as  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the 
National  Government,  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  ordinary  execution  of  state  laws.  The  two  gov- 
ernments are  made  and  kept  separate  both  in  respect 
to  the  business  undertaken  and  the  agencies  for  its 
accomplishment.  As  they  cannot  execute  each  other's 
functions,  so  neither  can  interfere  with  the  other  in  the 
execution  of  its  distinctive  functions. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  this  gradation  of  political  in- 
stitutions, notwithstanding  the  minute  partitioning  of 

18 


^: 


THE  AMERICAN  P^TY  AS  A  UNIFYING  AGENCY 

powers  and  their  assignment  to  numerous  and  diverse 
political  areas,  notwithstanding  the  separation  of  legis- 
lative from  executive  business  both  in  States  and  in 
Federal  Government,  the.  American  people  have,  after 
all,  created  for  themselves  a  system  of  party  govern- 
ment w^hich  is,  in  its  way,  almost  as  strictly  centralized 
as  is  the  party  government  of  the  English  cabinet 
system.  It  is  as  if  the  people  themselves,  feeling  the 
isolation  into  which  they  had  been  retired  by  our  pe- 
culiarly guarded  and  scattered  system,  had  determined 
to  form  a  supplemental  institution  for  the  promotion 
of  neighborliness  in  the  State.  Certain  it  is  that, 
through  the  great  national  party,  the  millions  have 
been  enabled  to  feel,  and  aspire,  and  act  together  in 
the  filling  of  offices  and  in  the  exercise  of  powers  which 
Jaw  and  custom  had  otherwise  kept  far  apart. 

The  great  unifying  party  machine  which  has  been 
made  the  effective  intermediary  between  the  American 
voter  and  his  diverse  and  otherwise  isolated  political 
institutions  has  itself  separate  organs  corresponding 
to  every  considerable  governmental  institution,  to  each 
of  which  it  holds  peculiar  relations.  The  varied  sys- 
tems of  local  government  in  the  several  States  have 
made  a  distinct  contribution  to  party  organization,  as 
has  also  the  general  government  of  the  State.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  political  elements  of  the  Federal 
Government,  the  President,  the  two  Houses  of  Con- 
gress jointly,  and  each  House  separately.  The  political 
party  can  be  understood  only  as  it  is  seen  in  its  rela- 
tions to  these  various  sources. 

In  England,  the  unity  which  compact  and  effective 
party  government  seems  to  demand  grows  out  of  the 

19 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

character  of  the  British  Government  itself,  in  which 
the  cabinet  constitutes,  in  effect,  the  national  party 
committee  and  at  the  same  time,  in  all  matters  politi- 
cal, the  government  as  well.  In  America,  on  the  con- 
trary, great  pains  was  taken  to  prevent  the  cen- 
tralization of  power  in  any  one  office  or  any  one 
governmental  area.  No  office  of  State  or  Nation  is 
permitted  to  express  the  unity  of  political  authority. 
Y^et,  in  some  undefined  way  through  the  party  system, 
we  have  acquired,  not  only  a  sense  of  national  unity, 
but  likewise  a  high  degree  of  practical  harmony  in  the 
filling  of  offices  and  in  the  control  of  official  conduct. 
Since  we  lack  a  national  officer  to  embody,  or  per- 
sonate, the  oneness  which  the  party  demands,  a  vast 
array  of  distinct,  extra-legal  machinery  has  been  de- 
vised, and  the  party  which  unifies  presents  the  anom- 
aly of  shaping  itself  in  the  mold  of  the  separate  gov- 
ernmental organs  which  divide. 

The  cabinet  system  illustrates  a  principle  found  in 
every  form  of  biparty  government.  There  machinery 
is  reduced  to  a  minimum ;  the  party  is  seen  to  govern 
because  the  members  of  the  cabinet  are  both  party  of- 
ficers and  officers  of  state.  An  essential  characteristic 
of  any  sort  of  biparty  government  is  the  fusion  of  po- 
litical and  party  office.  The  President  of  the  United 
States  is  an  officer  in  his  party  by  virtue  of  the  execu- 
tive office  to  which  he  has  been  elected.  In  accepting 
the  nomination,  he  consents  to  become  the  leader  and, 
to  a  considerable  extent,  the  chief  spokesman  of  his 
party.  Having  secured  the  election,  he  not  only  does 
not  lay  down  his  party  office,  but  he  bears  increased 
party  responsibility. 

20 


THE  AMERICAN  PARTY  AS  A  UNIFYING  AGENCY 

But  the  Chief  Magistrate  is  the  servant  of  the 
whole  people!  Yes.  But  in  a  democracy  under 
a  dual  party  system,  the  President  can  serve  the 
entire  state  only  by  faithfulness  in  the  fulfilment  of 
all  reasonable  party  pledges;  by  diligence  in  the  dis- 
covery of  the  policies  which  his  party  ought  to  adopt ; 
and,  most  of  all,  by  his  skill  and  effectiveness  in 
persuading  his  party  to  assume  and  advance  the  en- 
lightened views  which  his  position  as  leader  has  en- 
abled him  to  form.  Probably  no  public  man  was  ever 
more  opposed  to  party  government  than  was  George 
Washington,  yet  Washington's  sense  of  duty  to  the 
whole  country  led  him  to  consent  to  hold  the  position 
of  leadership  in  the  Federal  party. 

As  with  the  President,  so  with  the  members  of 
Congress.  They  are  all  party  leaders.  In  accepting  a 
party  nomination,  they  assume  leadership  in  district 
or  State ;  and,  what  is  more  important  still,  every 
congressman  who  accej5ts  a  party  nomination  becomes 
responsible  to  the  entire  country  for  the  fulfilment 
of  certain  party  pledges.  So  well  is  this  principle 
understood  in  the  more  simple  party  system  of  Great 
Britain  that,  when  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons 
finds  that  he  cannot  continue  to  work  in  harmony  with 
his  party,  it  has  been  customary  for  him  to  resign  his 
seat,  and  either  retire  from  office  or  appeal  to  his  con- 
stituents for  reelection,  after  making  clear  the  points 
at  issue. 

While  the  principle  of  identity,  or  fusion  of  office 
in  party  and  government,  is  more  apparent  in  respect 
to  the  elective  positions  in  the  general  government 
than  in  respect  to  those  of  the  States  and  minor  areas, 

21 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

the  principle,  nevertheless,  holds  wherever  there  is 
party  responsibility.  The  governor  of  a  State  is  not 
responsible  to  the  national  party  in  whose  name  he  is 
elected,  to  the  same  extent  as  is  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  His  position  does  not  involve  leader- 
ship in  that  party  in  the  same  sense.  The  office  itself 
does  not  represent  national  policies  which  give  sig- 
nificance to  party  names.  Still,  the  governor  is,  by 
virtue  of  his  office,  a  leader  of  his  party  in  his  own 
State.  That  party  has  become  identified  with  certain 
lines  of  state  policy,  and  its  managers  make  definite 
promises  to  the  people.  For  the  fulfilment  of  these 
pledges,  so  far  as  they  come  within  the  range  of  his 
official  power  or  influence,  the  governor  is  peculiarly 
responsible.  The  members  of  the  state  legislature  are 
under  like  obligations. 
/^K  political  party  may,  as  such,  make  itself  respon- 
sible for  the  government  of  a  city  by  assuming  definite 
pledges,  making  party  nominations,  and  then  carrying 
the  election.  In  such  a  case,  the  members  of  the  city 
government  are  party  agents,  to  be  held  to  the  ful- 
filment of  party  obligations.  When  a  non-partizan 
ticket  has  been  placed  in  the  field  and  elected,  there 
is  then  distinctly  no  fusion  of  the  city  office  with  a 
party  office;  the  city  officials  so  chosen  are  not  re- 
sponsible to  any  party.  The  members  of  such  a  non- 
partizan  city  government  may  be  active  members  of  a 
party,  but  they  have  no  right  to  seek  to  strengthen  a 
party  by  the  use  of  office  which  had  been  made  by 
agreement  non-partizan. 

The  candidate  of  a  party  for  an  office  is  a  party  of- 

22 


THE  AMERICAN  PARTY  AS  A  UNIFYING  AGENCY 

ficer  pure  and  simple ;  he  has  been  officially  designated 
to  fulfil  a  special  party  function.  If  he  is  defeated, 
his  office  is  at  an  end,  and  he  has  no  longer  any  official 
rank  of  any  sort.^  But,  if  he  is  elected,  he  has  accom- 
plished the  party  object,  and  carried  the  organization 
into  a  place  of  governmental  power.  The  elected  can- 
didate becomes  the  agent  of  his  party  for  the  service 
of  the  state,  and  this  is  true  of  every  office  where  the 
party  assumes  responsibility,  from  that  of  the  mayor 
of  a  city  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  nation.  The 
candidates  elected  to  the  numerous  positions,  high  and 
low,  which  connect  the  party  with  the  exercise  of  the 
powers  of  government,  though  they  may  not  be  techni- 
cally party  officers,  are  in  a  sense  such.  This  is  not 
saying  that  it  is  desirable  that  party  domination 
should  prevail  upon  such  a  wide  scale.  It  is  simply  the 
statement  of  a  fact  or  a  condition  which  party  govern- 
ment entails. 

To  understand  the  technical,  independent  party  ma- 
chine which  is  outside  of  governmental  office,  one  must 
first  have  a  clear  view  of  that  part  which  is  in  the 
responsible  exercise  of  power.  It  is,  after  all,  the 
machine  in  office  that  counts.  To  a  large  extent,  party 
committees  are  influenced  by  the  holders  of  political 

iMr.  Bryan  states  (1904)  that  by  the  nomination  of  Judge 
Parker  lie  has  himself  been  relieved  from  party  trammels  which 
he  has  felt  to  be  binding  upon  him  for  the  last  eight  years 
as  the  nominee  of  his  party  for  its  chief  oflBce.  Candidates  for 
the  Presidency  hold,  in  this  respect,  a  peculiar  relation  to 
their  party,  a  relation  wholly  different  from  that  of  other 
candidates. 

23 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 


office,  and  derive  their  significance  and  their  power  to 
a  great  degree  from  their  direct  connection  with  official 
position.^ 

'  1  Bagehot's  "  English  Constitution  "  presents  the  identity  of  the 
cabinet  with  the  party  as  the  harmonizing  principle  in  the 
English  government.  The  files  of  the  English  journals,  The 
Spectator  and  TJie  SpeaJcer,  are  perhaps  the  best  sources  of  in- 
formation setting  forth  the  phases  of  party  development  in  recent 
years. 

With  the  complex  American  system  it  would  scarcely  be 
possible  as  yet  for  any  statement  to  be  prepared  concerning 
fundamental  party  functions  which  would  be  accepted  with  the 
same  unanimity  as  Bagehot's  work  on  the  English  system. 
Ultimate  agreement  may,  however,  be  hoped  for  as  a  result  of  the 
concurrent  observing  and  reporting  of  many  students. 


24 


CHAPTER  III 

PRESIDENTIAL  LEADERSHIP 

The  President  of  the  United  States  is,  like  the  prime 
minister  of  England,  the  most  conspicuous  leader  of 
his  party.  Though  not  a  member  of  either  House  of 
Congress,  he  yet  shares  with  the  party  members  of  the 
legislature  the  duty  of  fulfilling  party  pledges.  He 
has  power  to  recommend  measures  of  legislation  in 
such  a  way  as  to  command  attention,  and  he  may 
prevent  legislation  by  the  use  of  the  veto.  To  an  even 
greater  degree  than  the  prime  minister,  the  President 
is  responsible  for  the  executive  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment and  its  administrative  efficiency. 

But  in  respect  to  legislation,  Congress  has  separate 
and  independent  powers.  This  division  of  the  forces 
of  government  at  the  very  center  of  authority  has  laid 
the  foundation  for  confusion  in  political  leadership, 
and  has  furnished  the  occasion  for  the  creation  of  a 
unifying  agency  unknown  to  the  Constitution  and  out- 
side the  scope  of  law. 

In  English  political  discussion,  the  question  has 
often  arisen  whether  cabinet  responsibility  should 
pertain  chiefly  to  its  executive  or  to  its  legislative 
duties,  or  whether  the  two  lines  of  duty  should  be 
accounted  of  equal  political  importance.  The  question 
has  received  no  conclusive  answer.     The  cabinet  may 

25 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

be  driven  out  of  office  by  a  direct  vote  of  censure 
for  administrative  misconduct;  it  may  be  driven  out 
by  a  direct  vote  of  censure  because  of  failure  in  its 
legislative  program ;  or  its  members  may  be  forced  or 
induced  to  resign  on  account  of  failure  in  the  House 
of  Commons  to  support  its  legislative  policy.  Har- 
mony in  the  entire  range  of  political  power  is  thus 
made  complete  and  simple. 

In  the  United  States  this  unity  is  secured  through 
a  specially  organized  political  party  having  close  con- 
nection with  the  two  political  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment, each  of  which  has  contributed  important  fea- 
tures to  the  machinery  of  the  party.  In  respect  to 
party  leadership,  the  Executive  has  enjoyed  great  ad- 
vantages over  the  legislative  branch,  in  that  it  is  rep- 
resented by  a  person  instead  of  an  assembly,  and  also 
because  the  President  has  legislative  as  well  as  execu- 
tive duties.  Various  incidents  in  the  history  of  the 
Presidency  illustrates  this  fact. 

The  administration  of  Andrew  Jackson  marks  an  im- 
portant stage  in  the  development  of  presidential  party 
leadership.  At  that  time,  the  process  of  nomination 
through  congressional  and  state  legislative  caucuses 
had  broken  down,  and  there  was  in  course  of  formation 
new  nominating  machinery  connecting  the  office  di- 
rectly with  the  people  by  means  of  a  series  of  nomina- 
ting conventions.  This  gave  the  President  indepen- 
dent access  to  the  primary  source  of  power.  Jackson 
was  a  man  of  strong  individuality,  and  possessed  of 
personal  qualities  which  commanded  popular  admira- 
tion. The  same  voters  who  chose  presidential  electors 
chose  also  members  of  Congress  and  members  of  the 

26 


PRESIDENTIAL   LEADERSHIP 


state  legislatures.  By  winning  and  holding  the  sup- 
port of  the  people,  the  President  was  able  to  carry 
his  own  measures  against  an  unwilling  Congress.  He 
treated  the  orders  of  the  Supreme  Court  with  con- 
tempt. He  exercised  what  were  regarded  as  danger- 
ous dictatorial  powers.  His  course  drove  a  consid- 
erable section  of  his  own  party  into  opposition  so 
decided  that  they  formed  a  coalition  with  the  rival 
party.  A  change  of  party  name  followed  the  high- 
handed acts  of  President  Jackson.  The  National  Re- 
publicans took  the  name  of  Whig,  from  an  assumed 
analogy  of  their  resistance  to  the  executive  encroach- 
ments upon  Congress  to  the  resistance  of  the  English 
AYhigs  to  the  encroachments  of  King  George  III  upon 
Parliamentary  rights  and  privileges.  But,  in  spi1?e  of 
powerful  opposition,  being  secure  in  the  popular  fa- 
vor and  strong  in  his  gift  of  personal  leadership, 
Jackson  was  able  to  dominate  his  party  and  to  secure, 
in  the  end,  a  subservient  Congress.  His  administra- 
tion marks,  in  a  way,  the  highest  attainment  in  indi- 
vidual, personal  party  leadership. 

One  other  feature  of  Jackson's  administration  is  of 
especial  consequence  in  connection  with  the  growth  of 
party  machinery.  The  President  made  many  removals 
from  office  in  the  various  departments,  and  gave  the 
places  to  his  own  political  supporters.  The  policy  was 
then  extremely  popular,  and  was  undoubtedly  an  im- 
portant factor  in  insuring  Jackson's  triumph,  and  for 
long  after,  the  executive  patronage,  or  "the  spoils  of 
office,"  remained  a  special  asset  of  the  President  in 
the  exercise  of  political  power.  In  the  later  develop- 
ments of  the  policy,  a  large  share  of  the  public  patron- 

27 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

lie  patronage  came  into  the  possession  of  members  of 
Congress. 

Quite  a  different  phase  of  the  position  of  the  Pres- 
ident as  party  leader  is  illustrated  by  the  administra- 
tion of  John  Tyler.  As  stated  above,  the  party  dicta- 
torship of  Jackson  divided  the  Democratic  party,  and 
the  Nullifiers  of  the  South  joined  the  Whigs.  To  rep- 
resent this  element  in  the  coalition,  the  Whig  National 
Convention  of  1840  nominated  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  for 
the  Vice-Presidency.  The  Whigs  carried  the  election ; 
but  on  the  death  of  President  Harrison  at  the  begin- 
ning of  his  administration,  Tyler  succeeded  to  the 
Presidency.  He  had  not  professed  to  be  a  Whig;  he 
had  only  represented  on  the  ticket  a  faction  that  had 
united  with  the  Whigs  on  the  now  defunct  issue  of 
opposition  to  executive  usurpation.  As  to  the  other 
distinctly  partizan  issues,  such  as  the  tariff  policy 
and  resistance  to  the  annexation  of  Texas,  he  was 
in  accord  with  the  Democrats.  In  this  exigency, 
there  resulted  first  a  contest  between  the  President 
and  the  Whigs.  Then,  the  President  elected  by  Whig 
votes  became  an  avowed  Democrat  and  candidate  for 
the  Democratic  nomination  for  the  Presidency  at  the 
next  national  convention.  These  two  instances  show, 
in  their  diverse  ways,  the  essential  importance  and  the 
independent  powers  of  the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate 
in  its  relation  to  the  leadership  of  a  party. 

Still  another  distinct  phase  of  the  same  subject  is 
seen  in  the  events  of  the  administration  of  Taylor  and 
Fillmore.  General  Taylor,  a  Southern  planter  and 
slaveholder,  received  the  Whig  nomination  to  the  Pres- 
idency.    There  were  doubts  as  to  the  genuineness  of 

28 


PRESIDENTIAL  LEADERSHIP 


his  Whig  convictions;  but  the  party  trusted  him  as 
a  man  of  honor,  and  they  believed  that,  as  a  military 
hero,  he  would  attract  votes.  When  President  Taylor 
came  to  assume  the  duties  of  his  office  he  took  counsel 
of  the  Whigs  in  the  Northern  States,  who  seemed  to 
him  to  represent  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  party 
upon  the  leading  question  at  issue.  That  question 
was  the  extension  of  slavery  into  the  new  territory 
acquired  from  Mexico.  The  President  took  strong 
ground  against  any  sort  of  compromise  with  the  de- 
mands of  the  South.  He  adopted  an  aggressive  policy 
for  the  admission  of  California  with  its  free-state 
constitution,  for  the  prevention  of  the  extension  of 
slavery  through  the  enlargement  of  the  boundaries  of 
Texas,  and  for  maintaining  the  legal  status  of  freedom 
in  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico.  The  threats  of  Whig 
Nullifiers  in  the  South  that  they  would  break  up  the 
Union,  or  offer  forcible  resistance  to  his  declared  pol- 
icy, were  met  with  a  Jacksonian  determination  to  pre- 
serve the  Union,  and  to  visit  summary  punishment 
upon  any  who  should  forcibly  attack  it.  The  Com- 
promise Bill,  introduced  into  Congress  by  Henry  Clay, 
was  defeated  by  the  aid  of  the  President's  firm 
attitude.  Then,  just  at  the  moment  of  the  apparent 
triumph  of  the  wing  of  the  Whig  party  opposed  to  the 
compromise,  the  President  suddenly  died,  and  Vice- 
President  Fillmore  succeeded  to  the  office.  The  new 
President  was  in  sympathy  with  the  compromisers, 
and,  through  the  changed  executive  influence,  the 
bill  was  revived  and  became  a  law. 

The  difference  between  the  Whig  party  as  led  by 
President  Taylor,  and  the  same  party  as  led  by  Fill- 

29 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

more,  is  the  difference  between  a  national  party  organ 
capable  of  taking  and  holding  a  national  position  on 
a  real  issue  of  primary  consequence,  and  no  party  at 
all.  The  attitude  of  President  Taylor  was  in  harmony 
with  the  real  demands  of  party  government.  Whigs 
had  opposed  the  Mexican  War  chiefly  because  of  their 
opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  The  President 
merely  held  to  the  logical  Whig  position.  By  main- 
taining that  position,  the  party  would  have  become 
the  national  organ  for  the  support  of  one  side  of  a 
great  controversy.  That  is  what  parties  are  for.  The 
Whig  party  had  always  contained  discordant  elements. 
Such  were  the  Southern  Nullifiers,  or  Disunionists. 
But  the  attitude  of  President  Taylor  in  1850  was 
fitted  to  give  to  the  party  that  unity  which  it  re- 
quired. By  adherence  to  his  position  it  would  have 
driven  out  some  of  the  Disunionists;  but  their  places 
would  have  been  filled  by  the  accession  of  Southern 
Unionists.  When,  however,  under  a  new  executive 
leader,  the  party  refused  to  take  a  stand  on  the  chief 
subject  of  national  controversy,  it  ceased  to  be  of  use. 
The  events  which  occurred  during  the  administra- 
tion of  Andrew  Johnson  furnish  the  most  conspicuous 
instance  in  our  history  of  the  testing  of  the  rivalry  of 
leadership  between  Congress  and  the  Executive.  The 
war  had  then  served  to  efface,  in  a  measure,  the  usual 
party  lines.  In  the  national  convention  which  nomi- 
nated Lincoln  and  Johnson  in  1864  the  name  Union 
was  substituted  for  Republican.  Andrew  Johnson,  a 
Southern  man,  had  always  been  a  Democrat,  but,  along 
with  many  other  Democrats,  he  was  a  strong  Unionist, 
and  had  been  devoted  to  the  support  of  the  first  Lin- 

30 


PRESIDENTIAL   LEADERSHIP 


oolu  administration.  In  recognition  of  this  branch  of 
the  L^nion  party,  the  name  of  Johnson  was  placed 
upon  the  ticket,  and,  by  the  death  of  Lincoln,  a  man 
who  had  never  borne  the  Republican  party  name 
became  President.  It  is  unnecessary  to  give  the 
details  of  the  famous  conflict  that  followed.  Out 
of  that  conflict  came  a  number  of  changes  in  party 
organization  and  party  leadership.  Since  the  Re- 
publican party  was  left  without  a  presidential 
leader,  an  efficient  substitute  was  extemporized  in 
the  two  Houses  of  Congress.  These,  banding  to- 
gether against  the  President,  assumed  the  conduct 
of  the  government,  and  forced  their  own  execu- 
tive policy  in  the  matter  of  reconstruction  upon 
an  unwilling  and  stubbornly  resisting  President. 
For  a  few  years  the  country  was  ruled  by  a  dicta- 
torial Congress  having  majorities  large  enough  to 
carry  their  own  measures  over  the  President's  veto. 

Congress  has  not  yet  entirely  lost  the  vantage 
ground  in  political  leadership  gained  in  this  memo- 
rable contest  with  the  Executive.  At  the  onset  of  the 
struggle,  the  President,  being  in  the  place  of  a  Repub- 
lican Chief  Magistrate,  had  more  or  less  control  or 
influence  over  the  national  party  committee.  That 
the  party  might  not  suffer  from  this  condition  of  af- 
fairs in  the  congressional  elections  of  1866,  the  two 
Houses  appointed  a  national  congressional  committee 
to  take  charge  of  the  elections  in  the  various  States. 
This  committee  has  ever  since  remained  in  service, 
and  has  become  a  permanent  part  of  the  extra-legal 
party  machinery.  The  introduction  of  this  committee 
has  been  referred  to  as  a  revival  of  the  old  congres- 

31 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

sional  caucus,  which,  in  the  early  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  assumed  the  function  of  making  pres- 
idential nominations.  It  is,  however,  the  creation  of  a 
new  party  agent,  the  necessity  for  which  grew  directly 
out  of  a  conflict  with  a  President  whose  relation  to  the 
regular  national  committee  was  such  as  to  render  that 
agency  for  the  time  unsatisfactory  to  the  party  mem- 
bers of  Congress  as  a  political  organ.  This  second 
national  committee  has  persisted  after  the  passing 
away  of  the  special  exigency  which  gave  it  birth,  and 
has  become  an  accepted  organ  of  both  the  parties,  be- 
cause of  the  conviction  that,  since  Congress  has  its 
distinct  place  in  party  leadership,  and  since  its  mem- 
berhip  is  renewed  by  elections  occurring  every  year,  it 
has  need  of  its  own  special  party  agency. 

Another  sequence  to  the  events  of  Johnson's  term  of 
office,  though  one  that  could  not  be  so  readily  proved 
to  have  grown  out  of  the  contest  between  the  two  de- 
partments of  the  government,  is  that  since  that  time 
members  of  Congress  have  had  a  larger  proportionate 
share  in  the  distribution  of  party  patronage.  Congress 
did  then  pass  laws  restraining  the  President  in  the 
matter  of  appointments.  Though  these  laws  w^ere 
afterward  repealed,  the  members  of  the  two  Houses 
have  nevertheless  retained  a  considerable  part  of  the 
patronage  which  law  and  earlier  usage  had  given  to 
the  President. 

The  citation  of  facts  illustrating  the  importance  of 
the  Presidency  in  relation  to  party  leadership  might 
be  indefinitely  extended.  It  is  almost  an  unwritten 
party  law  that  the  President  shall  be  during  his  first 
term  a  candidate  for  reelection.    Since  the  Civil  War, 

32 


PRESIDENTIAL   LEADERSHIP 


the  only  exception  to  the  rule  is  President  Hayes,  and 
in  his  case  there  was  a  preelection  promise  which  for- 
bade a  second  candidacy,  not  to  mention  the  doubtful 
title  to  the  office,  which  removed  all  temptation.  But 
the  fact  that  in  so  many  instances  such  a  candi- 
dacy has  not  resulted  in  reelection  is  conclusive  evi- 
dence that,  important  as  is  the  President  as  a  party 
leader,  the  preponderating  political  forces  lie  outside 
of  that  office.  True  as  it  is  that  a  conspicuous  person- 
ality confers  upon  the  Executive  peculiar  advantages 
in  political  leadership,  it  is  also  true  that  the  legis- 
lature has  an  advantage  in  that  it  is  the  natural  forum 
for  the  discussion  of  political  issues. 

It  was  during  the  Grant  administration,  following 
the  period  of  distinctive  congressional  party  leader- 
ship in  Johnson's  administration,  that  congressional 
participation  in  the  distribution  of  patronage  reached 
its  most  conspicuous  development.  The  President  w^as 
devoid  of  experience  in  party  politics,  and  in  matters 
of  party  leadership  he  followed  implicitly  the  advice 
of  a  small  group  of  senators  representing  States,  such 
as  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  where  there  was  a 
maximum  of  patronage  for  distribution. 

To  the  Senate  belongs  the  constitutional  right  to 
confirm  appointments  made  by  the  Executive.  This 
right,  supplemented  by  custom,  by  agreement  among 
themselves,  and  by  an  understanding  that  came  to  be 
designated  as  "Senatorial  courtesy,"  gave  to  the  sen- 
ators a  very  large  share  in  the  control  of  appointments 
in  their  own  States.  The  power  to  confirm  was  inter- 
preted as  a  right  to  be  consulted  before  the  appoint- 
ment is  made.  If  an  appointment  were  sent  in  with- 
3  33 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

out  the  recognition  of  this  right,  senatorial  courtesy 
required  all  the  party  members  of  the  Senate  to  unite 
with  the  aggrieved  senator  in  a  refusal  to  confirm  the 
appointment.  In  this  way  a  large  proportion  of  the 
power  formerly  exercised  by  the  President  passed  to 
the  Senate.  Senators  not  only  maintained  the  right 
to  be  consulted,  in  practice  they  exercised  the  right  to 
nominate  and,  in  a  way,  to  control  appointments. 

While  the  members  of  the  lower  House  have  no 
legal  duties  in  the  making  of  appointments,  yet,  for 
party  reasons,,  it  became  customary  to  consult  the 
representatives  with  reference  to  post-office  and  other 
positions  in  their  own  districts.  Thus  the  members  of 
both  Houses  of  Congress  gained  much  control  over  the 
patronage  in  the  various  States.  The  senators,  having 
already  a  legal  hold  upon  the  business  through  their 
right  of  confirmation,  shared  w^th  the  representatives 
the  acquired  powers  of  nomination  and  recommenda- 
tion. 

During  Grant's  first  term,  a  system  of  distributing 
the  patronage  through  a  harmonious  mutual  under- 
standing between  the  President  and  the  members  of 
his  party  in  Congress  was  perfected.  Under  this 
system,  a  very  high  degree  of  party  harmony  and  effi- 
ciency was  attained.  The  extra-legal  party  organiza- 
tion was,  to  a  large  extent,  composed  of  office-holders. 
There  was  at  least  a  postmaster  to  represent  the  party 
in  almost  every  voting  precinct.  Thus  the  party  in 
power  had  everywhere  official  agents  in  control  of  or 
in  places  of  influence  in  the  local  party  organization. 

So  long  as  the  President,  senators,  and  representa- 
tives are  at  one  in  support  of  this  system,  while  the 

34 


PRESIDENTIAL    LEADERSHIP 


voting  constituency  acquiesces  or  approves,  the  very 
difficult  problem  of  party  union  and  harmony  is 
solved.  Because  of  its  simplicity,  this  method  of  party 
rule  has  acquired  and  retained  a  strong  hold  over  the 
minds  of  many.  It  still  has  the  support  of  honest 
conviction,  largely  because  every  other  means  pro- 
posed for  securing  party  unity  and  efficiency  proves 
much  more  difficult  to  understand. 

When  the  time  approached  for  the  nomination  of 
candidates  for  the  election  of  1872,  the  Republican 
organization  was  set  in  motion,  and  the  result  was  the 
registering  of  a  logically  predetermined  conclusion. 
There  was  harmony  between  the  President  and  the 
party  caucuses  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  in  the 
making  of  appointments.  Those  who  had  received  its 
favors  naturally  supported  the  administration,  and 
such  was  their  distribution  and  their  relation  to  the 
local  nominating  machinery  that  they  were  without 
difficulty  able  to  send  to  the  national  convention 
delegates  who  nominated  for  a  second  term  the  chief 
dispenser  of  patronage.  Already,  however,  there  had 
grown  up  in  the  party  a  wide-spread  dissatisfac- 
tion. Members  of  the  party  who  were  out  of  office  felt 
that  they  were  losing  their  proper  influence  in  the 
party  management.  Among  those  who  went  to  Phil- 
adelphia pledged  to  renominate  General  Grant  were 
some  whose  judgment  was  not  in  accord  with  their 
act.  They  believed  that  they  were  being  used  to  carry 
out  a  decree  dictated  by  office-holders  who  were  them- 
selves not  free  to  form  an  independent  judgment. 

During  the  second  term  of  Grant's  administration, 
there  occurred  a  great  popular  uprising  against  the 

35 


PARTY   OROANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

party  in  power.  The  organization  had  become  united 
and  compact  under  the  control  of  office-holders,  and 
there  were  revelations  of  serious  official  corruption  in 
high  places.  In  consequence,  the  elections  of  1874 
made  the  lower  House  Democratic  by  a  large  majority, 
and,  by  the  end  of  the  presidential  term,  the  demand 
for  reform  had  become  so  loud  that  reform  was  made 
the  leading  issue  in  the  campaign  of  1876.  Contesting 
the  election  upon  that  issue,  the  Democrats  almost 
gained  control  of  the  government. 

The  Grant  method  of  securing  unity  in  party  lead- 
ership, therefore,  proved  a  failure.  It  harmonized 
the  office-holders,  but  drove  the  voters  into  opposition. 

So  decided  was  the  demand  in  the  Republican  party 
for  a  reform  in  the  civil  service  that,  in  the  convention 
which  nominated  Mr.  Hayes,  a  very  explicit  declara- 
tion was  made  in  favor  of  restoring  to  the  President 
the  sole  responsibility  of  making  appointments.  It 
was  proposed  that  congressmen  should  be  relieved 
from  the  newly  assumed  function  of  sharing  with  the 
Executive  that  privilege  and  responsibility.  In  Mr. 
Hayes's  letter  of  acceptance,  he  cordially  indorsed  the 
proposed  reform  and  definitely  pledged  to  it  the  execu- 
tive support.  By  persistent  efforts  to  redeem  the 
party  promises  for  a  reform  in  the  civil  service,  Presi- 
dent Hayes  made  considerable  progress  toward  regain- 
ing for  the  Executive  the  control  of  appointments. 
He  continually  bestowed  the  patronage  of  the  govern- 
ment in  violation  of  the  rules  prevailing  under  the 
Grant  regime.  This  change  of  policy  w^as  keenly  felt 
by  those  who  had  become  accustomed  to  harmonious 
cooperation  with  the  President  in  dispensing  official 
favors.    An  insistent  demand  arose  for  a  third  term 

36 


PRESIDENTIAL   LEADERSHIP 


for  General  Grant,  which  led  to  one  of  the  most  mem- 
orable factional  contests  in  the  history  of  the  country. 
In  this  contest  there  was  much  that  was  purely  per- 
sonal and  therefore  of  no  special  significance.  But 
the  principle  for  which  the  Stalwarts  stood  is  of  great 
significance.  They  contended  for  the  Grant  method 
of  party  leadership,  and  this  involved  the  right  of  the 
members  of  Congress  to  be  consulted  in  respect  to 
appointments  to  office.  The  conflict  did  not  end  in 
the  convention,  but  after  its  tragic  termination  in  the 
assassination  of  President  Garfield,  the  understanding 
was  reached,  in  ways  not  easily  defined,  that  the  people 
will  hold  the  President,  rather  than  members  of  the 
Senate,  responsible  for  filling  the  chief  offices  in  the 
executive. 

Out  of  this  important  contest  also  came  the  first 
effective  law  for  diminishing  the  amount  of  party 
patronage  by  providing  for  entrance  to  the  lower  po- 
sitions in  the  government  service  through  competitive 
examination,  open  to  members  of  all  parties.  So  far  as 
the  rules  are  made  effective,  the  places  filled  under 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  are  taken  out  of  politics. 
The  President,  as  representing  the  party  in  power,  is 
held  responsible  for  the  execution  of  this  as  of  any 
other  law  affecting  party  relations.  Hence  the  move- 
ment which  resulted  in  civil  service  reform  tended  to 
strengthen  the  President  in  his  rivalry  for  party  lead- 
ership with  the  members  of  his  party  in  the  two  Houses 
of  Congress. 

The  position  taken  by  President  Hayes  has  been 
strengthened  by  the  two  administrations  of  Grover 
Cleveland,  and  was  surely  not  weakened  by  the  inter- 
vening one  of  Benjamin  Harrison. 

37 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND   MACHINERY 

It  does  not  follow  from  this  that  members  of  Con- 
gress can  no  longer  secure  offices  for  their  friends  and 
supporters.  The  President  is  in  need  of  information 
as  to  the  fitness  of  appointees  in  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  members  of  Congress  are  the  best  in- 
formed and  most  capable  advisers  available.  He  must 
almost  of  necessity  rely  upon  them  for  knowledge  of 
applicants  in  the  great  majority  of  cases.  As  a 
mere  matter  of  convenience,  he  will  usually  be  guided 
by  the  senators  and  representatives  in  respect  to  the 
local  appointments  in  their  own  States  and  districts. 
What,  then,  is  the  difference  between  the  policy  of  the 
Grant  administration  and  that  of  Hayes  or  Cleveland  ? 
By  the  first,  party  harmony  and  party  unity  were  se- 
cured by  virtually  surrendering  to  Congress  the 
control  of  appointments.  A  distinct  power  in  political 
leadership  thus  passed  from  the  Executive  to  the  leg- 
islature, and  by  so  much  as  the  latter  was  strengthened, 
by  so  much  was  the  Presidency  weakened.  The  party 
became  dangerously  harmonious  by  passing  under  the 
sway  of  the  office-holders.  Hayes  reintroduced  the 
spirit  of  conflict  within  party  ranks  along  the  lines  of 
the  constitutional  division  of  powers.  He  asserted 
executive  independence  in  the  purely  administrative 
matter  of  making  appointments. 

This  assumption  of  independence  greatly  increased 
the  President's  power  and  influence.  He  may  still,  for 
his  own  convenience,  ask  advice  from  congressmen, 
while  at  the  same  time  retaining  his  full  right  of  in- 
dependent action.  Members  of  Congress  are  thus  made 
dependent  upon  the  Executive,  who,  in  controlling 
appointments,  holds  in  his  hands  a  weapon  whereby 

38 


PRESIDENTIAL   LEADERSHIP 


he  may  wrest  legislation  from  a  hesitating  or  an 
unwilling  Congress. 

When  President  McKinley  called  an  extra  session  of 
Congress,  in  1897,  to  revise  the  tariff  legislation  ac- 
cording to  party  promises,  there  was  great  uncertainty 
as  to  the  possibility  of  reaching  an  agreement  in  Con- 
gress. But  the  President  made  it  clear  to  that  body 
that  there  would  be  no  new  appointments  made,  except 
the  few  essential  ones,  until  the  new  tariff  bill  was 
passed.  Thus  the  Executive  utilized  the  army  of  office- 
seekers  besieging  the  members  of  Congress  as  a  quasi 
lobby  for  a  legislative  measure  which  he  had  deter- 
mined to  force  through.  The  final  outcome,  therefore, 
of  the  apparent  increase  of  political  power  which  came 
to  the  members  of  Congress  from  the  Johnson  and 
Grant  administrations  has  tended,  also,  to  give  to  the 
President  additional  influence  over  the  legislators. 
And,  last,  it  is,  after  all,  that  political  element  which 
commands  the  strongest  popular  support  that  is 
the  true  party  leader.  Ih  respect  to  the  patronage, 
that  is  the  President.  Appointments  dictated  by  sen- 
ators or  representatives  often  give  rise  to  much  pop- 
ular disapproval,  while  those  of  the  President's  own 
choice  are  generally  acceptable  to  the  people. 

The  President,  then,  easily  holds  the  first  place  in 
party  leadership.  He  is  personally  accountable  to  the 
country  for  the  administration  of  the  government. 
His  responsibility  for  carrying  out  the  promises  of  the 
party  in  matters  of  legislation  is  more  clearly  defined 
and  more  widely  appreciated  than  is  that  of  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress.  His  control  of  the  patronage,  if 
not    complete,    is,   nevertheless,    politically   effective. 

39 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

Being  in  his  person  and  in  his  official  rank  continually 
before  the  people,  he  is  constantly  in  their  thought 
as  preeminently  a  political  leader.  The  office  which 
he  holds  is  the  one  prize  in  their  gift  to  which  every 
other  is  distinctly  subservient,  and  the  filling  of  that 
office  has  led  directly  to  the  creation  of  the  vast  system 
of  national  party  organization  which  dominates  all 
political  life. 

If  it  is  asked  what  distinct  and  specific  part  of  the 
permanent  party  machinery  has  been  contributed  by 
the  office  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation,  the 
answer  is,  the  national  nominating  convention  and 
the  national  central  committee  of  the  party.  But 
it  will  be  seen  that  these  are  the  parts  that  summarize 
and  express  the  unity  and  the  comprehensiveness  of 
the  party.  If  a  political  party  machine  is  used  for 
electing  a  road-master  in  a  minute  district  in  a  remote 
part  of  the  country,  the  organization  thus  employed 
has  no  meaning  except  from  its  relation  to  the  na- 
tional nominating  convention,  which  meets  once 
in  four  years.  The  permanent  national  committee 
is  the  one  extra-legal  institution  capable  of  being  called 
into  action  at  any  time  for  the  solution  of  party  ques- 
tions. That  committee  represents  every  part  of  the 
organization.  The  congressional  committee,  which 
is  also  national  and  of  independent  origin  and  devel- 
opment, is  yet,  from  the  standpoint  of  general  author- 
ity, distinctly  subordinate.  It  is  the  national  com- 
mittee that  embodies  the  party  unity.  As  the  agent 
of  the  national  convention,  the  committee  calls  that 
convention,  which  meets  for  the  purpose  of  nominat- 
ing a  President. 

40 


PRESIDENTIAL   LEADERSHIP 


The  President  represents  the  party  in  power.  It 
may  chance  that  the  opposing  party  has  a  majority 
in  the  Senate,  in  the  lower  House,  and  in  the  Supreme 
Court;  yet  the  party  which  has  elected  the  President 
is  the  party  in  power. 

The  American  system  finally  expresses  the  party 
unity,  which  is  essential  to  party  efficiency, in  a  person, 
differing  radically  at  that  point  from  the  English  sys- 
tem, in  w^hich  final  party  unity  is  reached,  not  in  a 
person,  but  in  a  cabinet  and  a  legislative  assembly, 
of  which  the  cabinet  is  an  integral  part.  The  party  in 
power  in  England  is  the  one  whose  national  party 
committee,  so  to  speak,  is  the  cabinet  backed  by  a 
majority  in  the  House  of  Commons.  When  the  Eng- 
lishman thinks  politics,  he  thinks  of  a  legislative  body 
led  by  a  party  committee. 

Even  in  English  municipal  government,  the  same 
general  principle  is  applied.  It  is  in  accordance  with 
the  political  training  of  the  people  that  the  mayor  of 
an  English  city  should  be  an  ornament,  a  decorative 
figure-head,  while  the  actual  government  is  by  means 
of  a  council  jointly  responsible  for  both  execu- 
tive and  legislative  business.  The  cabinet  system 
does  not  fix  responsibility  upon  a  person,  but  upon  a 
body.  Americans  have  had  a  different  political  train- 
ing from  the  English.  In  national  affairs  they  have  ac- 
quired habits  of  dependence  upon  a  chief  person,  to 
whom  they  looked  for  the  fulfilment  of  party  pledges. 

Beferences : 

"  The  Growing  Powers  of  the  President, "  by  H.  L.  West.  The 
Forum,  March,  1901. 

41 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

"Three  Months  of  President  Roosevelt,"  by  Henry  Loomis 
Nelson.     The  Atlantic  Monthly,  February,  1902. 

"Cleveland  and  the  Senate,"  by  James  Schouler.  The  Forum, 
March,  1897. 

"The  Presidency,"  Chapter  XV  in  "  The  Rise  and  Growth  of 
American  Politics,"  by  Henry  Jones  Ford,  1898. 

"  The  Presidential  Office,"  by  J.  F.  Rhodes.  Scribyier's 
Monthly,  February,  1903. 

"The  Independence  of  the  Executive,"  by  Grover  Cleveland. 
"Presidential  Problems,"  The  Century  Co.,  1904. 


42 


CHAPTER  IV 

CONGRESSIONAL  LEADERSHIP 

It  has  been  shown  that,  in  the  more  simple  form  of 
party  government  presented  by  the  English  cabinet 
system,  there  is  no  sharp  line  of  distinction  between 
legislation  and  administration.  It  is  the  cabinet  which 
controls  both  alike  and  is  subject  to  continuous 
criticism  for  delinquency  in  either.  The  American 
system,  on  the  contrary,  with  its  divided  powers  of 
government,  gives  rise  to  a  marked  difference  in  re- 
spect to  the  localization  of  party  responsibility  for  the 
two  sorts  of  business.  The  party  in  power — the  party 
whose  chief  is  the  President — is  in  control  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  government,  and  the  national 
party  leaders— the  President  and  his  cabinet — are, 
like  the  English  cabinet,  the  target  for  unceasing 
criticism  upon  all  matters  of  executive  efficiency.  To 
detect  and  expose  all  serious  failure  or  short-coming 
on  the  part  of  the  government  is  the  duty  of  the  op- 
posing party — the  party  out  of  office. 

This  attitude  of  keen  watchfulness,  of  critical  sur- 
veillance, is  an  essential  characteristic  of  the  dual  or- 
ganization which  carries  on  government  by  means  of 
political  parties.  This  rivalry  of  claim  to  superior  ad- 
ministrative ability  is  the  one  party  issue  which  never 

43 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

changes.  It  is  the  perpetual  mission  of  the  leaders  of 
either  opposing  party  to  seek  to  convince  the  voters 
that  they  excel  their  rivals  in  executive  efficiency.  The 
members  of  the  President's  party  in  either  House  are 
expected  to  answer  any  unjust  charges  or  reflections 
made  before  the  Houses  upon  the  administration,  and 
to  defend  it  against  unfair  attack.  At  the  same  time, 
it  is  not  the  policy  of  the  party  to  shield  the  Executive 
from  just  charges.  All  this  is  without  reference  to 
party  majorities.  The  policy  of  the  government  is  sub- 
ject to  question  by  the  opposition,  whether  or  not  that 
opposition  is  in  superior  force  in  Congress,  and  it  must 
be  defended  by  the  party  of  the  administration,  whe- 
ther or  not  it  commands  majorities  in  the  Houses. 

The  American  system  holds  the  dominant  party 
to  a  strict  accountability  in  matters  of  adminis- 
tration, and  this  applies  to  all  the  many  national, 
state,  and  local  divisions  of  the  government.  The  sep- 
aration of  the  powers  of  government  tends  in  itself  to 
concentrate  party  responsibility  upon  administration 
rather  than  upon  legislation.  Wherever  a  party  gains 
control  of  an  office,  it  is  given  and  it  accepts  the  re- 
sponsibility for  the  conduct  of  that  office.  But  in  re- 
spect to  legislation,  party  liability  cannot,  in  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  be  so  centralized  as  in  the  English 
cabinet  government.  Here  the  distribution  of  powers 
and  the  wide  diffusion  of  legislative  agencies  among 
coordinate  Houses  and  innumerable  committees  make 
it  impossible  for  the  public  to  follow  the  process  of 
lawmaking  or  to  fix  responsibility  to  anything  like  the 
same  extent  as  in  Great  Britain.  No  party  committee, 
no  officer,  no  single  body  of  men  can  be  made  answer- 

44 


CONGRESSIONAL  LEADERSHIP 


able  in  the  same  sense  for  the  details  of  legislation. 
Some  share  of  this  responsibility  falls,  as  has  been 
shown,  upon  the  President.  Other  portions  pertain 
to  the  national  legislature  as  a  whole,  and  others  to 
each  House,  taken  separately. 

The  same  tendency  to  diffusion  that  characterizes 
our  general  system  of  government,  the  same  habit  of 
apportioning  out  business  to  many  agents  appears 
also  in  the  methods  of  the  national  assembly.  The 
complicated  committee  system  is  an  extreme  illustra- 
tion of  this  characteristic.  Most  of  the  actual  work 
of  legislation,  the  drawing  of  bills,  their  minute  con- 
sideration, and  their  conduct  through  the  required 
course  of  procedure,  is  assigned  to  some  half  a  hun- 
dred different  committees  in  each  House.  But  it  is, 
nevertheless,  a  distinguishing  feature  of  the  system 
that  the  party  controlling  a  House  makes  itself  answer- 
able for  the  conduct  of  its  committees.  That  is  what 
the  organization  of  a  House  means.  Here,  as  else- 
where in  our  peculiarly  scattered  form  of  government, 
the  party  is  the  organ  that  unifies.  Such  unity  as  is 
secured  in  each  House  is  through  the  fact  that  one 
political  party  is,  in  a  way,  accountable  for  the  leg- 
islative conduct  of  the  House.  Though  both  parties 
are  represented  upon  each  committee,  the  chairman- 
ship of  each  and  the  majority  of  its  members  belong, 
as  a  rule,  to  the  party  that  organizes  the  House,  and 
this  helps  to  fix  the  responsibility. 

It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  only  in 
respect  to  a  few  subjects  which  have  entered  into  spe- 
cial public  debate,  is  attention  particularly  directed 
to  the  question  of  party  responsibility.     Nearly  all 

45 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

legislation  is  the  result  of  cooperation  on  the  part  of 
the  members  of  the  different  parties ;  for  good  citizens 
agree  more  frequently  than  they  differ.  Only  rarely 
does  a  legislative  measure  divide  the  Houses  along 
strict  party  lines. 

The  Houses  of  Congress  nevertheless  hold  an  impor- 
tant place  in  both  party  organization  and  party  leader- 
ship. The  contribution  to  national  party  machinery 
made  by  the  executive  branch  of  the  government  is 
the  national  committee  and  the  national  convention: 
what  has  the  legislative  branch  contributed?  Repre- 
senting the  share  of  the  legislature  as  a  whole  in  the 
development  of  party  organization,  we  have  the  con- 
gressional party  committee,  composed  of  members  of 
both  Houses.  Though  nominally  an  organ  of  Congress 
in  its  comprehensive  aspect,  this  committee  is,  in  fact, 
under  control  of  the  lower  House,  and  nearly  the 
whole  of  its  distinctive  work  pertains  to  that  body,  so 
that  it  is  not,  in  any  important  sense,  an  organ  of 
Congress  as  a  whole. 

In  the  relations  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress, 
taken  separately,  to  the  extra-legal  machinery  of  the 
political  party,  a  marked  difference  will  be  observed. 
This  is  due  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  to  the  different 
methods  employed  for  choosing  senators  and  repre- 
sentatives. These  radically  diverse  processes  involve 
radically  different  connection  between  the  party  and 
its  legislators  in  the  two  Houses,  and  those  divergen- 
cies are  inevitably  reflected  in  the  forms  of  party 
organization. 

It  is  preeminently  the  senatorial  office  that  connects 
the  State  with  national  politics.    No  other  position  in- 

46 


CONGRESSIONAL   LEADERSHIP 


the  gift  of  the  State  is  so  highly  prized.  Many  a  state 
governor  has  been  eager  to  lay  down  his  gubernatorial 
honors  to  don  the  senator's  toga.  Indeed,  as  an 
object  of  ordinary  political  ambition,  the  senatorsliip 
stands  next  to  the  Presidency  itself.  It  is  accounted 
more  to  be  desired  than  a  cabinet  post  and  is  scarcely 
less  coveted  than  a  seat  upon  the  bench  of  the  Su- 
preme Court.  Thus  it  has  come  about  that  state 
politics  revolves,  to  a  very  large  extent,  about  the 
choice  of  senators.  It  is  the  national  policy  for  which 
the  senatorial  office  stands  that  gives  their  special  sig- 
nificance to  the  party  names,  since  only  incidentally 
and  in  a  subordinate  way  do  the  state  offices  represent 
national  policies.       ^' 

Each  State  elects  two  senators,  who  each  serve  six 
years.  Four  years  is  the  longest  period  that  can  inter- 
vene between  senatorial  elections,  and  after  that  long 
time  of  four  years  the  next  senator  will  be  chosen 
in  two  years.  In  many  state  legislatures,  members 
of  the  upper  house  hold  office  for  four  years.  Hence 
it  happens  that  in  those  States,  at  every  state  election, 
members  of  the  legislature  will  be  chosen  who  will 
be  called  upon  to  vote  for  a  United  States  senator,  and 
thus  the  senatorial  prize  becomes  a  constant  factor 
in  state  elections. 

These  facts  necessitate  a  peculiar  connection  with 
the  politics  of  his  State  on  the  part  of  a  senator. 
He  may,  and  usually  does,  exercise  much  control 
over  the  ordinary  local  party  machinery  through- 
out the  State.  The  same  organization  used  for  nom- 
inating and  electing  the  governor  and  other  state 
officials  is  used  also  for  nominating  and  electing  the 

47 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

members  of  the  two  houses  of  the  state  legislature 
who  will  choose  the  senators.  The  aspirant  to  that  post 
of  dignity  must,  therefore,  take  an  interest  in  the  vo- 
ters of  every  state  legislative  and  senatorial  district 
throughout  his  State,  and  he  may  manipulate  the 
party  forces  in  his  own  behalf. 

In  spite  of  these  conditions,  it  is  nevertheless  true 
that  there  have  always  been  in  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate men  who  have  been  sent  there  by  their  States,  and 
kept  in  office  because  of  distinguished  fitness  for  the 
place,  although  they  have  paid  scant  attention  to  the 
management  of  local  political  agencies.  Under  pres- 
ent conditions  such  instances  are  exceptional,  and 
senatorial  place  is  regularly  won  and  held  through  the 
power  to  control  the  party  organization  of  the  State. 

As  to  just  what  is  implied  in  this  control,  the  differ- 
ent States  give  widely  different  answers.  In  some 
cases  a  senator  is  so  plainly  and  so  fully  the  popular 
choice,  that  his  repeated  reelection  takes  place  as  an 
expression  of  public  opinion  without  the  need  of  any 
official  guidance  of  the  party  machinery.  But  in  some 
way  the  man  who  secures  and  retains  the  senatorship 
must  dominate  the  politics  of  his  State.  If  he  lacks 
that  popular  favor  which  creates  an  insistent  and  ef- 
fective demand  for  his  election,  he  is  forced  to  see  to 
it  that  the  local  nominating  bodies  in  all  parts  of  the 
State  are  so  directed  that  men  will  be  sent  to  both 
branches  of  the  state  assembly  who  will  stand  for 
him  in  the  joint  balloting  for  senator,  or  in  some  other 
way  he  must  command  the  needful  votes. 

The  Senate  cannot  be  shown  to  have  contributed 
to  the  party  organization  any  distinct  and  definite 

48 


CONGRESSIONAL    LEADERSHIP 


agency,  but,  more  than  the  Presidency  or  the  House 
of  Representatives,  it  has  modified  and  directed  the 
official  activities  of  party  organs  created  for  other 
purposes  than  the  choice  of  senators.  The  Constitu- 
tion made  the  senator  dependent  for  his  office  upon 
the  action  of  the  state  agencies  for  filling  the  chief 
offices  in  the  State;  but  no  constitution-maker  could 
foresee  the  kind  and  amount  of  the  modification 
in  the  working  of  the  party  machinery  that  would  re- 
sult from  the  unique  relation  of  the  senator  to  the 
Federal  and  the  state  governments. 

In  this  particular  no  two  States  have  had  identical 
experience.  In  a  few  of  them  political  development  is 
taking  a  course  which  may  ultimately  result  in  the  cre- 
ation of  a  new  senatorial  organ  of  party  machinery. 
South  Carolina  is  a  conspicuous  example  among  the 
States  virtually  electing  senators  by  popular  vote  of 
the  dominant  party.  Nomination  is  there  made  by  di- 
rect vote  of  the  members  of  the  party,  and  the  members 
of  the  legislature,  like  the  presidential  electors,  simply 
register  a  predetermined  conclusion.  If  this  method 
should  become  firmly  established,  it  would  furnish  an- 
other instance  of  radical  change  in  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution brought  about  by  an  extra-legal  party  or- 
ganization. Then  it  would  be  no  longer  true  that  the 
Senate  had  originated  no  distinct  party  organ.  Nom- 
ination and  election  by  direct  vote  call  for  the  use  of 
party  machinery  designed  for  the  express  purpose,  and 
if  senators  were  thus  chosen,  the  especial  necessity  for 
senatorial  control  over  the  ordinary  state  and  local 
nominating  agencies,  which  is  required  by  the  present 
indirect  method,  would  be  removed. 
*  49 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

Members  of  the  lower  House  have  always  been  cho- 
sen by  direct  vote  in  congressional  districts,  and  a 
distinct  section  of  the  party  machinery  has  that  busi- 
ness in  charge.  Each  district  is  provided  with  its  local 
congressional  committee,  whose  powers  and  duties 
vary  widely  in  the  different  States  and  in  the  different 
districts  of  the  same  State.  In  some  cases  there  is  the 
mere  formal  act  of  providing  for  a  convention  to 
nominate  the  candidate.  In  others,  the  congressional 
district  committee  has  full  charge  of  the  campaign, 
and  the  special  organization  may  ramify  throughout 
the  counties  and  smaller  voting  precincts  of  the  dis- 
tricts. More  commonly,  however,  the  usual  local  com- 
mittees are  used  in  the  minor  election  areas  of  the 
district. 

In  considering  the  contributions  made  by  the  legis- 
lative department  of  the  government  to  party  leader- 
ship, it  is  necessary  again  to  direct  attention  to  the  two 
Houses  taken  separately,  for  the  reason  that  it  often 
happens  that  House  and  Senate  are  dominated  by 
opposite  parties,  and  also  because  the  elements  of 
leadership  differ  in  the  two  Houses.  For  the  party  in 
office,  leadership  centers  in  the  Executive,  but  for  the 
party  out  of  office,  if  it  organizes  and  controls  either 
House  of  Congress,  that  House  assumes  the  definite 
role  of  leadership  in  respect  to  the  divisive  questions 
of  the  day.  Lacking  a  presidential  head,  the  party 
looks  for  leadership  to  its  national  legislature. 

Congress  constitutes  the  chief  forum  for  the  formu- 
lation and  discussion  of  national  party  issues,  and 
there  the  party  leaders  are  made  known.  Even  the 
President,  the  popular  head  of  his  party,  does  not 

50 


CONGRESSIONAL  LEADERSHIP 


appeal  directly  to  the  country  on  a  matter  of  party 
controversy.  Such  appeal  is  made  through  the  me- 
dium of  a  message  to  Congress  to  be  analyzed  and 
debated  before  the  great  electorate  by  the  prominent 
party  spokesmen  of  the  legislature.  One  will  readily 
recall,  as  an  instance  in  point,  the  famous  message  of 
President  Cleveland  on  the  tariff  question,  promul- 
gated near  the  close  of  his  first  term  of  office.  Though 
couched  in  the  terms  of  a  state  paper  recommending 
legislation,  it  was  manifestly  intended  as  a  guide  to 
the  President's  party  in  the  approaching  election  in 
which  he  was  himself  the  chief  candidate. 

It  is  manifest  that  the  hold  upon  the  party  in  gen- 
eral is  maintained  by  the  Senate  and  the  House  of 
Representatives  in  somewhat  different  ways.  When 
the  party  of  the  opposition  controls  the  Senate  alone, 
leadership  in  the  party  then  rests  in  the  upper  House, 
and  there  its  functions  are  exercised  against  certain 
disadvantages.  Americans,  as  has  been  mentioned, 
lack  the  training  which  enables  men  readily  to  receive 
guidance  from  a  corporate  body  as  such.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  Senate  that  strongly  appeals  to  the  pop- 
ular fancy.  Its  presiding  officer  is  not  a  party  leader, 
and  the  power  of  the  House  is  not  concentrated  in  any 
single  striking  personality.  Its  business  is  directed,  so 
far  as  party  questions  are  involved,  by  committees 
whose  operations  are  unknown  to  the  public.  The 
Senate  also  suffers  in  popular  favor  because  of  the 
indirect  manner  of  its  election ;  because  much  of  its 
business  is  conducted  in  secret ;  because  of  its  form  of 
organization,  and  because  of  an  alleged  disposition 
to  encroach  upon  the  prerogatives  of  the  Executive. 

51 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

Over  aud  above  these  drawbacks,  the  Senate  neverthe- 
less exercises  effective  leadership  through  the  influence 
of  its  able  and  distinguished  statesmen  of  national  re- 
pute; through  its  control  over  state  and  local  politics; 
and  through  the  occasional  presentation  of  distinct 
political  measures  when  the  House  represents  an  ad- 
verse view. 

The  House  of  Representatives  is  distinctly  the  pop- 
ular branch  of  the  government.  Its  members  are  di- 
rectly chosen  and  all  are  chosen  at  one  time.  The 
voter  is  entirely  free:  he  may  vote  for  a  Democratic 
representative  to  Congress,  and  vote  at  the  same  time 
for  Republican  state  and  local  officers.  The  election 
of  congressmen  midw^ay  between  presidential  elections 
furnishes  a  means  of  testing  the  attitude  of  the  public 
toward  the  policy  of  the  administration.  As  an  insti- 
tution, the  House  of  Representatives  has  never  been 
subjected  to  serious  criticism.  Its  form  of  organiza- 
tion is  in  harmony  with  the  American  inclination  to 
demand  personal  rather  than  corporate  political  lead- 
ership, and  it  exemplifies  in  a  striking  manner  the 
growing  force  of  that  tendency. 

The  letter  of  the  Constitution  would  have  been  ful- 
filled if  the  House  had  adopted  a  rule  that  no  one  of 
its  members  should  be  chosen  to  the  speakership,  but 
that  the  place  should  be  filled  by  one  not  a  member. 
The  House  chose,  however,  to  make  one  of  its  owm 
number  its  presiding  officer.  By  a  gradual  process, 
the  speaker  has  become  the  agent  of  the  House  for 
the  control  of  its  own  business,  and,  out  of  this  power 
within  the  House  which  the  office  involves,  has  come 
the  possession,  by  one  of  the  elected  representatives, 

52 


CONGRESSIONAL   LEADERSHIP 


of  an  unforeseen  measure  of  political  leadership 
and  control  before  the  country.  When  the  speaker 
is  of  the  same  party  as  the  President,  he  is  indeed 
overshadowed  by  that  supreme  official ;  but,  as  repre- 
senting a  House  dominated  by  a  party  adverse  to 
the  executive,  the  speaker  has  become  the  responsi- 
ble leader  of  his  party  in  Congress.  So  far  as  his 
own  House  is  concerned,  he  personates  his  party. 
In  popular  fancy  he  controls  the  legislation  of  the 
half  of  Congress  over  which  he  presides,  and  he  is 
held  to  a  high  degree  of  accountability  for  its  acts. 
All  this  gives  to  the  House  of  Representatives  special 
qualifications  for  the  leadership  of  the  party  opposed 
to  the  President,  and  the  speaker  may  have  distin- 
guished success  in  the  guidance  of  his  party  while  in 
opposition. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  both  Houses  of  Congress 
are  organized  and  controlled  by  the  party  in  opposi- 
tion. Then  extreme  partizan  legislation  is  of  course 
impossible,  unless  the  majorities  in  Congress  are  large 
enough  to  prevail  over  the  executive  veto.  Under  such 
circumstances,  there  is  a  likelihood  of  conflict  over 
questions  of  legislative  encroachments. 

These  varying  relations  between  the  Houses  and  the 
parties  might  be  illustrated  by  many  references  to 
incidents  in  our  political  history,  but  a  few  well-known 
examples  may  suffice. 

During  President  Cleveland's  first  term,  a  tariff  bill 
approved  by  the  Republican  Senate  was  accepted  as 
embodying  the  policy  of  the  Republican  party,  while  a 
different  bill  favored  by  the  Democratic  House  was 
understood  to  represent  the  policy  of  the  administra- 

53 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND   MACHINERY 

tion.  Over  the  relative  merits  of  the  two  bills,  the 
electoral  battles  of  the  mid-term  period  were  waged. 
When  thus  pitted  against  each  other,  the  two  Houses 
stand  before  the  country  in  a  very  definite  manner  as 
leaders  of  the  party  forces  in  matters  of  legislation. 
They  give  shape  to  party  issues  and  guide  party 
conduct. 

In  the  days  of  Andrew  Johnson,  the  two  Houses 
united  in  a  course  of  legislation  inimical  to  the 
President,  and  Congress  was  able  to  force  the  ex- 
ecutive hand.  President  Hayes  once  refused  to  sign 
an  appropriation  bill  with  a  ''rider"  attached,  and 
thus  defended  his  office  against  one  means  of  legisla- 
tive coercion.  He  threw  upon  Congress  the  responsi- 
bility of  leaving  the  government  without  the  needed 
supplies,  alleging  that  the  legislative  branch  has  no 
right  to  use  its  control  of  the  public  purse  to  force 
legislation.  President  Cleveland  successfully  resisted 
the  efforts  of  a  hostile  Senate,  when  the  House  was 
Democratic,  to  limit  his  alleged  constitutional  power 
to  •  remove  from  office  in  the  civil  service.  By  his 
appeal  to  the  country  in  defense  of  his  office.  Congress 
was  induced  to  remove  the  last  vestige  of  the  tenure- 
of-office  law  passed  over  the  veto  of  President  Johnson. 

It  appears,  from  a  survey  of  party  history,  that 
questions  of  encroachment  between  the  different 
branches  of  the  government  are  more  satisfactorily 
settled  by  appeal  to  the  fairmindedness  of  men  in  all 
parties,  than  by  making  them  distinct  party  issues. 
The  "Whig  party  surely  gained  no  permanent  strength 
out  of  the  special  partizan  issue  of  resistance  to  the 
executive   encroachments   of   Andrew   Jackson.     No 

54 


CONGRESSIONAL  LEADERSHIP 


party  has  indeed  won  lasting  advantage  over  its  rival 
by  attacks  upon  the  executive,  the  Senate,  or  the  House 
of  Representatives.^ 

1  The  Senate  as  a  political  factor  has  been  much  discussed  in 
current  literature.  The  following  are  a  few  of  the  references  to 
such  material : 

"  The  President  and  the  Senate,"  by  Dorman  B.  Eaton.  North 
American  Review,  June,  1886. 

"The  Degeneracy  of  the  Senate," by  E.  P.  Clark.  TJie  Nation, 
July  15,  1886. 

"  The  Reform  of  the  Senate,"  by  W.  P.  Garrison.  TJie  Atlantic 
Monthly,  August,  1891. 

"  Has  the  Senate  Degenerated  ?"  by  G.  F.  Hoar.  TJie  Forum, 
April,  1897. 

''Has  the  Senate  Degenerated  ? "  by  C.  R.  Miller.  TJw  Forum, 
May,  1897. 

''Ought  the  United  States  Senate  to  be  Abolished  ?  "  by  H.  Von 
Hoist.     Ttie  Monist,  October,  1894. 

"  The  Courtesy  of  the  Senate."  American  Law  Review,  March- 
April,  1894. 

"The  American  House  of  Lords."  The  Spectator,  London, 
October  14,  1893. 


55 


CHAPTER  V 


PARTY   TERMINOLOGY 


Having  briefly  discussed  the  relations  of  the  holders 
of  high  official  positions  to  their  parties  in  connection 
with  national  administration  and  legislation  and  as 
contributors  to  party  organization  and  as  party  lead- 
ers, we  turn  now  to  consider  party  organization  from 
the  opposite  point  of  view,  as  it  were — that  is,  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  people  themselves.  Between  the 
people  and  their  representatives  in  Federal  office  are 
certain  intermediary  organs  known  as  primaries,  cau- 
cuses, conventions,  and  committees. 

The  primary  in  the  various  uses  of  the  term  serves  as 
an  agency  for  nominating  local  officers ;  for  selecting 
delegates  to  party  conventions ;  for  instructing  voters ; 
for  giving  information  to  party  representatives  in  of- 
fice as  to  the  views  of  their  supporters ;  and,  in  general, 
for  expressing  the  attitude  of  the  great  body  of  party 
electors  toward  the  policy  of  party  leaders.  The  pri- 
mary is  a  name  given  to  the  original  formal  act  of  the 
voters  in  setting  in  motion  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment. In  its  several  uses  the  word  always  has  refer- 
ence to  the  point  of  immediate  contact  of  the  whole 
body  of  electors  with  their  government.  All  voters 
belong  or  may  belong  to  a  political  party,  and  all  may 

56 


PARTY   TERMINOLOGY 


affect  the  conduct  of  their  party  by  the  direct  exercise 
of  their  personal  influence  at  a  party  primary.  The 
distinctive,  characteristic  act  of  a  primary  is  to  agree 
upon  persons  to  be  voted  for;  but  it  may  be  called 
solely  for  the  appointment  of  delegates  to  a  political 
convention,  or  it  may  perform  both  these  functions 
and  may  also  attend  to  any  party  business  brought 
before  it  by  the  members  of  the  party  in  attendance. 

Political  duties  of  citizens  are  in  some  instances  per- 
formed without  the  use  of  the  elementary  party  ma- 
chinery. Elections  are  sometimes  held  without  any 
previous  formal  nominating  procedure.  In  such  a 
case  the  election  itself  may  be  called  the  primary ;  or, 
more  strictly,  the  primary  and  the  election  are  fused 
into  one  act.  But  candidates  for  offices  commanding  a 
general  interest  are  usually  nominated  in  some  regular 
and  formal  manner. 

Citizens  of  a  town  or  a  precinct  occasionally  come 
together  in  mass  meeting  and,  without  regard  to  party  V^ 
affiliations,  discuss  policies  and  designate  candidates 
for  office.  Such  a  gathering  holds  the  rank  of  a  pri- 
mary and  may  be  spoken  of  under  that  name,  but  it 
does  not  belong  to  party  organization.  Since  the  in- 
troduction of  the  Australian  ballot  into  the  United 
States  the  law  has  in  some  cases  prescribed  the  method 
of  nomination  by  petition.  A  certain  number  of 
voters  present  to  the  election  officers  a  request  signed 
by  their  names  that  the  names  of  persons  mentioned 
therein  shall  be  placed  upon  the  ballot  as  candidates 
for  designated  offices.  This  method  substitutes  nomi- 
nation by  petition  for  the  use  of  the  primary. 

Specifically,  the  term  primary  applies  to  a  meeting 

57 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

of  the  supporters  of  a  certain  party  called  by  the  local 
leaders  of  an  organized  party  for  the  purpose  of  mak- 
ing nominations  and  attending  to  other  party  affairs. 
Two  separate  forms  are  in  use: 

1.  All  the  members  of  the  party  within  the  local 
area  are  called  together  and  organized  as  a  delibera- 
tive body.  They  choose  a  chairman  from  their  own 
number  and  proceed  to  nominate  candidates  for  local 
offices,  elect  delegates  to  nominating  conventions,  and 
transact  whatever  party  business  the  members  pres- 
ent may  desire.  As  a  party  organ  it  may  confine  itself 
to  a  single  function  or  it  may  exercise  a  variety  of 
powers.  It  may  choose  officers  or  delegates  by  viva 
voce  vote,  by  ballot,  or  in  such  manner  as  the  mem- 
bers of  the  assembly  may  decide.  To  illustrate :  the 
committeeman  for  the  precinct  or  the  town  calls  a 
meeting  of  the  party  members  within  the  area ;  as  a 
precinct  or  a  town  primary  they  may  nominate  can- 
didates for  the  local  offices  and,  at  the  same  meeting, 
choose  delegates  to  a  county  convention  for  nominat- 
ing county  officers  and  selecting  delegates  to  a  con- 
vention representing  a  larger  area. 

This  is  a  common  but  not  the  invariable  method. 
The  county  committee  may  call  all  the  voters  of  an 
entire  county  to  assemble  for  the  nomination  of  county 
officers,  and  the  same  body  may  choose  delegates  to 
conventions  of  higher  rank.  Such  a  gathering  would 
conform  to  our  definition  of  a  primary.  For  obvious 
reasons  this  form  of  the  primary  is  limited  to  the 
smaller  areas.  Voters  cannot  meet  for  deliberation 
from  an  area  larger  than  a  county,  and  in  most  coun- 
ties such  a  meeting  is  so  large  as  to  be  inconvenient. 

58 


PARTY   TERMINOLOGY 


2.  The  business  of  the  primary  may  take  the  form 
of  a  true  election.  In  place  of  the  assembly  of  a  delib- 
erative body,  there  may  be  the  holding  of  an  election 
for  choosing  candidates  for  office  or  delegates  to  con- 
ventions. A  place  is  designated  where  members  of  the 
party  may  cast  their  votes,  as  at  a  regular  election  of 
public  officials,  for  candidates  or  delegates  or  both. 
This  is  called  a  primary  election,  and  it  is  not  re- 
stricted to  the  small  local  area.  It  admits  of  almost 
indefinite  expansion,  and  may  be  applied  to  a  con- 
gressional district,  to  a  State,  for  nominating  state 
officers,  or,  as  in  South  Carolina  and  a  few  other 
states,  to  the  nomination  of  Federal  senators. 

Some  of  the  States  have  by  law  required  that  nomi- 
nations to  certain  offices  shall  be  made  in  this  direct 
way,  and  a  considerable  body  of  Primary  Election 
Laws  has  already  been  enacted  for  the  regulation  of 
primary  elections. 

A  mass  convention  for  making  nominations  may  be 
called,  in  which  all  members  of  the  party  have  an 
equal  right  to  participate.  This,  too,  may  be  consid- 
ered a  form  of  the  primary.  In  actual  usage  it  is  not 
likely  to  be  termed  a  convention,  unless  the  call  is 
made  by  the  proper  officials  for  a  large  area.  In 
thinly  settled  rural  counties  the  mass  convention  is  a 
common  medium  for  transacting  party  business. 

The  word  caucus  has  likewise  a  variety  of  applica- 
tions. It  is  often  used  as  a  synonym  for  primary  and 
'may  be  applied  to  either  of  the  forms  of  the  primary 
described  above.  In  States  where  the  regular  nomi- 
nations are  made  by  direct  primary  election,  a  much 
larger  field  is  left  for  preliminary  conference  within 

59 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

the  party  with  reference  to  the  selection  of  candidates 
for  nomination.  To  such  a  conference  the  name 
caucus  is  given.  Strictly  speaking,  indeed,  the  cau- 
cus is  a  secret  meeting  of  a  few  party  members  to 
discuss  questions  of  political  policy,  to  determine  in 
what  manner  the  more  open  and  public  assembly  of 
the  primary  shall  be  guided  in  its  action,  and  to  select 
the  candidates  to  be  brought  before  it.  This  was  an 
original  use  of  the  term  in  colonial  days,  and  there 
was  early  associated  with  the  caucus  the  idea  of  un- 
derhand political  intrigue  and  secret  machination  for 
securing  political  control. 

For  the  sake  of  clearness  it  is  well  to  distinguish  by 
name  the  free,  open  course  of  action  by  party  voters 
for  setting  the  forces  of  government  in  motion  and 
nominating  candidates  for  office,  from  the  secret  con- 
clave of  a  few  party  organizers  who  meet  to  lay  plans 
for  manipulating  the  party  agencies  in  order  to  ac- 
complish personal  ends.  The  first  is  more  properly 
called  the  primary,  the  second  the  caucus.  The  pri- 
mary is  never  secret.  If  it  is  ever  made  so,  it  is  no 
longer  in  any  true  sense  a  primary,  but  becomes  a 
caucus  in  the  evil  sense  of  that  term. 

There  is,  however,  another  use  of  the  word  caucus 
which  is  applied  to  a  perfectly  legitimate  assembly  of 
the  party  members  of  a  legislative  body.  It  is  cus- 
tomary for  the  members  of  a  party  in  each  house  of 
a  state  legislature  to  meet  ''in  caucus"  to  determine 
the  course  of  party  action  in  the  house,  to  choose  can- 
didates for  the  offices  to  be  filled  by  the  house,  or  to 
agree  upon  the  attitude  which  the  party  shall  hold 
toward  specific  measures  before  the  legislature.     The 

60 


PARTY   TERMINOLOGY 


state  assembly  has  also  its  joint  caucus  of  each  party 
for  the  two  houses  taken  together,  and  its  most  impor- 
tant business  is  perhaps  the  nomination  of  United 
States  senators  when  party  exigencies  seem  to  demand 
it. 

In  like  manner,  the  party  members  in  the  House  of 
the  Federal  legislature  meet  in  caucus  for  similar 
purposes. 

Certain  historical  applications  of  the  term  caucus 
should  also  be  mentioned.  In  the  somewhat  chaotic 
condition  of  political  organization  in  early  party  his- 
tory the  legislative  caucus,  which  was  made  up  of 
the  party  members  of  the  two  houses  of  a  state  as- 
sembly, sometimes  assumed  the  right  to  nominate  can- 
didates for  state  and  even  for  Federal  offices. 

The  congressional  caucus  composed  of  the  party 
members  of  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  exercised  for 
almost  the  whole  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  last  cen- 
tury the  function  of  choosing  presidential  candidates. 
These  secret  gatherings,  arrogating  to  themselves  the 
guidance  of  party  conduct,  were  never  acceptable 
to  the  people,  and  in  course  of  time  gave  place  to 
the  more  popular  party  agent,  the  nominating  con-  M 
vention.  ---7 

A  convention,  as  a  definite  part  of  the  machinery  of 
the  party,  is  the  agency  for  gathering  together  a  num- 
ber of  primaries  by  means  of  delegates.  The  primary, 
or  the  caucus,  or  the  mass  convention,  sends  its  repre- 
sentatives to  act  for  it  in  the  convention.  The  ratio 
of  representation  is  determined  by  some  rule  which  the 
party  authorities  have  adopted.  In  the  States  the 
number  of  delegates  assigned  to  the  different  areas  is 

61 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND   MACHINERY 

usually  based  upon  the  party  vote  for  the  leading  can- 
didate in  the  last  preceding  election.  In  the  national 
conventions  of  the  two  principal  parties  the  number 
of  delegates  from  each  State  is  fixed  at  twice  that  of 
its  presidential  electors.  These  rules  have  been  made 
by  the  conventions  themselves. 

The  national  convention  which  nominates  candi- 
dates for  President  and  Vice-President  is  connected 
through  a  series  of  intermediate  conventions  with  the 
primaries.  First,  the  primaries  of  a  county  send 
delegates  to  a  county  convention.  All  the  counties  in 
the  State  send  delegates  to  a  state  convention,  and 
delegates  from  the  States  and  Territories  make  up  the 
national  convention.  Party  authorities  may  decide 
that  only  the  four  delegates-at-large  shall  be  chosen 
by  the  state  convention,  and  that  the  two  delegates 
from  each  congressional  district  in  the  State  shall  be 
chosen  by  a  district  convention. 

The  great  nominating  conventions  of  the  two  chief 
parties  thus  represent  the  mass  of  the  voters  in  the 
various  States  and  Territories.  Delegates  come  to 
them  directly  from  the  people,  commissioned  to  act 
on  their  behalf  in  the  high  duty  of  expressing  a 
choice  for  a  man  to  fill  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the 
nation. 

Meetings  of  delegates  to  frame  constitutions,  or  to 
adopt  or  reject  a  proposed  constitution,  are  also  called 
conventions.  In  these  different  connections  the  term 
is  associated  with  the  exercise  of  the  highest  political 
powers.  The  convention,  the  primary,  and  the  caucus 
(when  the  word  is  used  as  a  synonym  for  primary) 
represent  the  direct  authority  of  the  people. 

62 


PARTY   TERMINOLOGY 


The  party  committee  belongs  to  a  different  class, 
being  one  step  removed  from  immediate  popular  con- 
trol. It  is  an  agency  of  the  convention  or  the  primary. 
It  corresponds  to  each  recurring  convention,  and  is 
commissioned  to  act  on  its  behalf.  Each  important 
primary  has  its  local  committee.  These  several  com- 
mittees constitute  the  permanent  part  of  the  party 
organization. 

Party  committees  are  as  numerous  as  are  the  impor- 
tant governmental  areas  to  be  supplied  with  elected 
officers.  This  implies  an  enormous  number  of  party 
officials.  In  the  two  great  organizations  of  our  chief 
parties  are  more  persons  holding  responsible  official 
positions  than  there  are  in  all  the  elective  civil  offices 
above  those  of  the  ward  or  the  township  in  the  whole 
country.  The  members  of  the  committees  of  the  party 
are  its  constantly  active  official  agents.  They  guard 
and  foster  party  interests  not  only  during  the  cam- 
paign periods  but  also  throughout  the  intervals  be- 
tween conventions  and  elections ;  they  collect  infor- 
mation which  is  of  value  to  party  leaders,  and  give 
currency  to  party  opinion.  These  services  are  given 
without  pay,  though  in  a  few  of  *  the  most  important 
committees,  such  as  the  national  committee  or  a  state 
central  committee,  there  are  paid  secretaries  and 
clerks.  While  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  com- 
mitteemen receives  no  compensation,  it  is  true  that 
those  who  consent  to  bear  the  burden  and  heat  of 
the  day  in  party  service  are  accounted  worthy  of  con- 
sideration when  the  party  is  casting  about  for  re- 
cipients of  party  honors.  Many  members  of  the  party, 
however,  who  render   faithful   and  effective  aid   in 

63 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

humble  and  obscure  ways,  never  seek  or  receive  re- 
ward or  recognition  of  any  sort.^ 

1  All  that  is  said  on  the  use  of  terms  as  applied  to  party  organs 
is  subject  to  correction  from  the  direct  observation  of  actual 
usage.  The  things  named  are  subject  to  change,  and  technical 
definition  is  difficult  or  impossible. 

F.  H.  Dallinger's  "Nominations  to  Elective  Office"  and  E.  C. 
Meyer's  ''Nominating  Systems"  are  convenient  sources  of  infor- 
mation upon  the  whole  subject  of  the  working  of  party  machinery. 

The  convention  system  is  fully  treated  in  chaps,  x,  xi,  and  xii 
of  J.  A.  Woodbury's  "  Political  Parties  and  Party  Problems.'' 


64 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE   NATIONAL    COMMITTEE 


Standing  in  intimate  relations  to  the  President  as  the 
head  of  his  party  and  holding  a  position  of  the  high- 
est importance  and  responsibility  in  the  party,  is  the 
national  committee.  It  is  the  one  perpetual  and  per- 
manent party  institution  which  stands  for  the  unity  of 
the  entire  party,  since  in  its  composition  every  part  of 
the  nation  is  represented,  and  its  chairman  is  both 
the  nominal  and  the  actual  head  of  the  formal  organi- 
zation—the  director  and   governor   of   the   machine. 

Historically  speaking,  the  committee  has  grown  in 
consequence  and  power  with  the  growth  of  the  party. 
As  the  party  has  become  the  regular  and  accepted 
organ  of  political  expression,  the  national  committee, 
chosen  in  orderly  manner  and  surrounded  by  all  the 
sanctions  of  an  established  institution  intrenched  in 
the  habits  and  affection  of  a  great  people,  has  sup- 
planted the  irregular  and  self-appointed  agencies  of 
the  early  days  and  assumed  prestige  and  authority. 

When  the  Whig  party  went  out,  in  the  years  imme- 
diately following  its  defeat  in  1852,  and  the  peo- 
ple who  had  become  accustomed  to  the  biparty  sys- 
tem of  government  were  left  with  only  half  the 
machinery  needed  for  the  working  of  such  a  system, 
5  65 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

new  parties  sprang  up  and  began  to  assume  national 
proportions. 

With  marvelous  rapidity,  organized  as  the  work  of 
unauthorized,  self-appointed  committees,  the  Know- 
nothing,  or  American  party  spread  through  every  part 
of  the  land.  It  arose  in  response  to  a  need  which  was 
generally  felt,  but  before  it  had  secured  possession  of 
the  political  organs  surrendered  by  the  Whigs  another 
party  took  the  field.  Before  this  young  and  eager 
body  of  men  conjuring  with  the  old  and  glorious  name 
Kepublican  and  presenting  issues  more  in  consonance 
with  the  trend  of  the  political  thought  of  the  time,  the 
Knownothings  went  down. 

The  Republicans  created  an  organization  which  en- 
dures, and  we  think  we  know  how  this  was  done.  It 
may  never  be  certainly  known  where  or  by  whom  the 
party  name  was  first  suggested,  or  which  point  of  the 
widespread  movement  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  pri- 
ority. More  important  and  significant  is  the  fact  of 
the  spontaneity  of  the  movement  and  the  large  num- 
ber of  its  independent  points  of  contact  with  the 
people. 

The  Republican  party  was  locally  organized  before 
national  agencies  were  brought  into  use,  and  an  ac- 
credited national  committee  appeared  before  a  con- 
vention was  called  to  place  in  nomination  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency.  Among  the  many  local  organiza- 
tions, one  under  the  name  of  "The  Republican  As- 
sociation of  AA^ashington,  District  of  Columbia,"  was 
formed  June  19,  1855.  On  January  17,  1856,  this 
body  issued  a  circular  urging  Republicans  to  or- 
ganize clubs  or  associations  in  all  cities,  towns,  -and 

66 


THE   NATIONAL  COMMITTEE 


villages,  and  giving  minute  directions  as  to  methods 
of  insuring  successful  cooperation.     On  this  circular- 
appeared  the  following  passage:  "We  have  therefore 
to   request  that,  should  you  organize   a  Republican 
Association,  or  should  there  be  one  already   in  ex- 
istence in  your  place,  you  will  urge  upon  its  members  i 
the  importance  of  at  once  collecting  funds  for  the' 
purpose  of  procuring  and  disseminating  the  proper 
kind  of  documents  among  the  masses,  either  by  your; 
Association  or  by  our  National   Committee."     This 
is  probably  the  earliest  reference  made  to  a  Republican 
national    committee,    and    the    title    designates   here 
merely  a  committee  of  a  local  association  at  the  capi-j 
tal,  w^hich  assumed  the  name. 

But  it  happened  that  on  the  same  day,  January  17, 
1856,  there  went  out  from  Washington  a  call  signed 
by  the  chairmen  of  the  State  Republican  committees 
of  nine  States,  inviting  the  Republicans  of  the  United 
States  to  meet  in  informal  convention  at  Pittsburg, 
February  22,  ''for  the  purpose  of  perfecting  the  Na- 
tional Organization,  and  providing  for  a  National 
Delegate  Convention  of  the  Republican  Party,  at 
some  subsequent  day,  to  nominate  candidates  for  the 
Presidency  and  Vice-Presidency."  The  self-appointed 
body  which  issued  this  call  did  not  name  itself  a  na- 
tional committee,  though  it  might  have  done  so  with 
much  more  appropriateness  than  did  the  local  Wash- 
ington committee  which  assumed  the  name. 

The  informal  Pittsburg  convention  called  by  the 
nine  state  committeemen  met  and  appointed  an  ex- 
ecutive committee  consisting  of  one  from  each  State 
represented  in  the  convention;  and  that  committee, 

67 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

having  met  in  Washington  on  March  29,  1856,  issued 
a  formal  call  for  the  first  National  Republican  Nom- 
inating Convention,  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  on 
June  17,  of  the  same  year.  This  convention  was 
opened  by  the  Hon.  Edwin  D.  Morgan  of  New  York, 
chairman  of  the  national  committee,  with  the  fol- 
lowing words:  "Delegates  of  the  Convention,  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  Heart  and  Hope  of  the  Nation: 
The  day  and  the  hour  appointed  for  this  gathering 
have  arrived;  and  in  behalf  of  my  associates  of  the 
National  Committee,  I  now  call  this  assemblage  to 
order. ' '  Thus  the  body  to  which  pertains  the  supreme 
authority  in  a  great  political  organization  was  called 
into  being  by  the  action  of  a  self-constituted  national 
committee.  It  at  once  entered  upon  its  duties  and  as- 
sumed all  the  powers  and  privileges  belonging  to  such 
a  body.  A  resolution  was  adopted  providing  for  the 
appointment  of  a  national  committee,  consisting  of 
one  member  from  each  State  and  Territory,  to  serve 
during  the  ensuing  four  years.  All  our  information 
goes  to  show  that^this  was  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
the  accepted  form  of  organization.  In  the  Demo- 
cratic party  the  permanent  national  committee  dates 
from  1848. 

While  much  is  known  concerning  the  work  of  the 
national  committee  during  the  presidential  campaign, 
information  as  to  its  functions  throughout  the  three 
intervening  years  is  not  abundant  or  satisfactory. 
There  is  reason  to  believe,  however,  that  the  duties  of 
that  period  are  more  numerous  and  more  important 
than  they  have  been  generally  regarded.  "To  pro- 
mote the  Democratic  Cause,"  is  one  of  the  labors  as- 

68 


THE  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE 


signed  to  its  committee  by  the  Democratic  convention 
of  1848,  and  this  may  be  taken  as  a  comprehensive 
statement  of  the  work  of  a  national  committee.  A 
common  cause  of  party  weakness  and  failure  is  the 
rise  of  misunderstandings,  division,  and  local  faction 
within  the  party.  The  committee,  representing  in  the- 
ory the  w^hole  party  constituency  of  the  country,  is  in 
a  position  to  resist  the  development  of  faction  and  to 
exercise  powerful  influence  in  correcting  misunder- 
standings and  healing  dissensions.  Along  such  lines 
its  practical  usefulness  may  be  almost  unlimited,  and 
much  of  its  time  during  the  years  of  comparative  in- 
action may  well  be  devoted  to  the  labor  of  harmoniz- 
ing elements  possibly  discordant.  Members  of  the 
national  committee  are,  moreover,  exceptionally  acute 
observers  of  political  phenomena.  They  are  selected 
in  the  first  place  in  view  of  their  known  or  assumed 
interest  in  the  party  objects,  and  high  official  obliga- 
tion works  naturally  to  increase  that  interest.  They 
are  in  a  position  to  render  many  services  to  the  Presi- 
dent, the  cabinet,  and  members  of  Congress,  more  es- 
pecially in  promoting  mutual  understanding  and  sym- 
pathy between  these  high  officers  and  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  party  in  the  States.  They  may,  also,  actively 
assist  both  in  discovering  and  in  determining  the  will 
of  the  party  and  of  the  country. 

The  fact  that  the  national  committee  does  not  au- 
thoritatively interfere  with  elections  held  during  the 
three  years  intervening  between  the  presidential 
struggles,  enables  it  all  the  more  effectively  to  observe 
the  movements  of  men  and  events,  to  watch  the  devel- 
opment of  national  issues,  and  to  be  prepared  to  sum 

69 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

up  the  results  for  the  benefit  of  the  party  in  the  con- 
flict at  the  end  of  the  period.  Certain  it  is  that  those 
members  of  national  committees  who  have  served 
through  a  presidential  campaign,  followed  by  three 
years  of  experience  as  official  watchmen,  have  been 
ready  to  assume  and  exercise  high  responsibilities 
when  the  time  for  decisive  action  has  come  again,  and 
this  with  a  good  degree  of  satisfaction  to  their  con- 
stituents. 

A  few  illustrations  will  make  this  plain.  On  De- 
cember 22,  1859,  the  Republican  national  com- 
mittee which  had  conducted  the  campaign  of  1856 
issued  a  call  for  the  next  ensuing  national  con- 
vention. To  this  convention  the  committee  invited 
*'the  Republican  electors  of  the  several  States,  the 
members  of  the  people's  party  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  opposition  party  of  New  Jersey,  and  all  others  who 
are  willing  to  cooperate  with  them  in  support  of  the 
candidates  who  shall  there  be  nominated."  The  point 
of  interest  in  this  extract  is  that  it  was  the  national 
committee  that  decided  whom  to  invite  to  the  conven- 
tion, and  whose  members  took  upon  themselves  the  re- 
sponsibility of  designating  '4he  people's  party  of 
Pennsylvania  and  the  opposition  party  of  New 
Jersey"  as  suitable  component  parts  of  that  conven- 
tion. 

The  same  committee  took  the  liberty,  in  calling  the 
convention,  to  formulate  in  much  detail  what  they 
regarded  as  the  precise  issues  of  the  hour;  such  as, 
the  right  of  Congress  to  prohibit  the  extension  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories,  and  the  immediate  admis- 
sion of  Kansas  as  a  free  State.    Four  years  later  the 

70     • 


THE   NATIONAL   COMMITTEE 


committee  sent  out  its  call  in  the  midst  of  civil  war ; 
but  neither  in  that  document  nor  in  any  official  re- 
port of  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  which  fol- 
lowed does  the  name  Republican  anywhere  appear. 
It  seems  that  the  committee  took  upon  themselves  the 
responsibility  of  suppressing  the  party  name.  They 
describe  themselves  as  ''The  undersigned  who,  by 
original  appointment  or  by  subsequent  designation 
to  fill  vacancies,  constitute  the  Executive  Committee 
created  by  the  National  Convention  held  at  Chicago 
on  May  16,  1860."  With  one  exception  their  call 
is  the  briefest  paper  of  its  kind  ever  promulgated  by 
a  Republican  national  committee.  Not  a  single 
reference  is  made  to  any  opposing  party.  All  quali- 
fied voters  ''who  desire  the  unconditional  maintenance 
of  the  Union,  the  supremacy  of  the  Constitution,  and 
the  complete  suppression  of  the  existing  rebellion  with 
the  cause  thereof,  by  vigorous  war  and  all  apt  and 
efficient  means,"  are  invited  to  send  delegates  to  the 
convention. 

It  was  many  years  after  the  war  was  over  before  the 
discovery  was  made  that  it  had  been  carried  to  a  suc- 
cessful conclusion  by  a  "  grand  old  party ' '  which  bore 
the  name  Republican.  Had  that  discovery  been  made 
at  any  time  previous  to  the  calling  of  the  national 
conventions  of  1864,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  rebellion 
would  have  been  put  down  by  force.  The  position  of 
the  Republican  national  committee  was  a  peculiarly 
delicate  and  responsible  one.  As  soon  as  the  war  had 
become  serious  the  obnoxious  partizan  name  was 
dropped,  as  if  by  common  consent.  All  citizens,  re- 
gardless of  party,  were  called  upon  to  support  the 

71 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

government,  and  there  was  a  prompt  and  hearty  re- 
sponse. A  Breckenridge  Democrat  went  into  Lin- 
coln's cabinet.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  leading 
Democratic  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  1860, 
spent  his  last  breath  in  persuading  his  followers  to 
support  the  Lincoln  administration.  Democrats  en- 
tered the  Union  army  by  hundreds  of  thousands. 

When  the  time  was  approaching,  in  1864,  for  the 
meeting  of  the  Republican  convention,  the  national 
committee  waited  for  two  months  after  the  usual 
date  for  issuing  the  call,  and  then  they  provided  for 
the  holding  of  a  non-partizan  ''Union  Convention," 
assuming  the  responsibility  of  giving  an  entirely  new 
name  to  their  party.  The  national  committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  Union  Convention  took  the  liberty  of 
restoring  the  Republican  name  in  issuing  the  call 
for  the  convention  of  1868,  adding  the  word  Republi- 
can to  the  previous  title ;  the  official  designation  of  the 
Convention  of  1868  was,  therefore,  the  "National 
Union  Republican  Convention. ' '  Later,  it  was  simply 
the  "Union  Republican  Convention"  that  was  called, 
and  in  the  year  1880  the  word  Union  was  dropped 
and  the  original  name  restored.  The  official  designa- 
tion has  since  been  simply  the  "National  Republican 
Convention"  or  the  "Republican  National  Conven- 
tion." 

Somewhat  different  has  been  the  experience  of  the 
national  Democratic  committee.  Among  the  most 
formidable  of  the  assets  of  the  party  are  its  claim  to 
an  unbroken  historical  continuity  from  the  first  dec- 
ade of  the  national  existence,  and  its  assertion  of  the 
broadest  nationality  from  the  beginning,  utterly  re- 

72 


THE   NATIONAL   COMMITTEE 


pudiating  every  semblance  of  sectionalism.  These  pro- 
clivities are  reflected  in  the  course  of  party  history, 
and  in  the  records  of  its  proceedings. 

The  change  of  name  from  Republican  to  Demo- 
crat took  place  so  gradually  that  no  suggestion  of  re- 
organization was  made.  Indeed,  the  official  title  of 
the  party  remains  to  this  day  the  Democratic-Repub- 
lican, though  long  since  abbreviated  in  popular  par- 
lance and  in  most  of  the  party  literature  to  Demo- 
cratic party.  That  was  the  generally  accepted  name 
before  the  meeting  of  the  first  national  convention 
in  1832.  The  call  for  a  national  convention  issued  by 
the  committee  appointed  by  the  convention  of  1848, 
after  stating  that  the  committee  had  conferred  with 
members  of  Congress,  recommended  "that  a  Conven- 
tion of  the  Democratic  party  throughout  the  Union, 
by  delegates  duly  appointed  by  the  Democrats  of  the 
several  States,  be  held  in  the  city  of  Baltimore."  No 
further  description  of  the  party  constituency  was 
needed. 

After  the  Greeley  campaign  of  1872  a  slight  change 
may  be  noted  in  the  form  of  sound  words  used  to  call 
together  the  national  convention.  "Democratic,  con- 
servative and  other  citizens  of  the  United  States,"  so 
it  reads,  "irrespective  of  past  political  association, 
desiring  to  cooperate  with  the  Democratic  party  in  its 
present  efiPorts  and  objects,  are  cordially  invited  to 
send  delegates  to  the  National  convention."  Four 
years  later,  in  1876,  the  call  ran:  "All  Democratic 
conservative  citizens  of  the  United  States,  irrespective 
of  past  political  associations  and  differences,  who  can 
unite  with  us  in  the  effort  for  pure,  economical,  and 

73 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

constitutional  government,  are  cordially  invited  to 
join  in  sending  delegates  to  the  Convention."  This 
form  is  repeated  without  change  until  after  the  Chi- 
cago convention  of  1896.  The  call  for  the  convention 
of  1900  injects  the  word  "reform"  into  the  first 
phrase,  making  it  read,  "All  Democratic  conservative 
reform  citizens,"  and  at  the  end  of  the  sentence  this 
qualifying  clause  is  added,  "and  who  favor  a  Repub- 
lic and  who  are  opposed  to  Empire." 

To  the  national  committees  are  assigned  many 
practical  matters  of  business.  They  arrange  for  a 
place  of  meeting  for  the  national  convention  and  su- 
pervise the  details  of  plans  for  its  suitable  entertain- 
ment. The  disbursing  of  the  vast  sums  of  money  col- 
lected for  party  purposes  pertains  to  them,  and  calls 
for  unlimited  judgment,  discretion,  and  political 
sagacity.  More  delicate  and  important  is  the  commit- 
tee's task  of  providing  for  the  organization  of  the 
convention  by  selecting  the  temporary  chairman.  Or- 
dinarily the  chairman  so  named  is  accepted  by  unani- 
mous consent;  but  this  rule  has  been  subject  to  two 
notable  exceptions,  one  in  each  party.  The  Repub- 
lican convention  of  1884,  which  nominated  Mr. 
Blaine,  refused  to  accept  the  committee  nominee  for 
chairman,  as  did  also  the  Democratic  convention  of 
1896.  In  both  instances  the  issue  led  to  a  protracted 
debate. 

The  fact  that  the  conduct  of  the  committee  has  so 
seldom  been  brought  into  public  notice  and  has  been 
so  very  rarely  questioned,  is  proof  of  a  high  degree  of 
skill  and  of  success  in  harmonizing  and  directing  the 
party   forces.     Men   go   to  the   national   convention 

74 


THE   NATIONAL   COMMITTEE 


with  a  profound  interest  in  the  questions  to  be  settled. 
They  realize  that  much  depends  upon  the  course  of  the 
temporary  chairman.  He  is  the  first  to  address  the 
convention ;  either  he  or  the  national  committee  itself 
makes  up  the  committees  on  organization.  That  only 
once  in  the  history  of  each  of  the  two  great  parties 
has  the  performance  of  the  duties  of  the  committee 
been  seriously  objected  to,  argues  much  for  its  uni- 
form good  judgment  and  fairmindedness. 

But  there  are  times  when  the  national  party  itself 
becomes  so  rent  into  opposing  sections  whose  opinions 
are  held  with  unyielding  conviction,  that  for  the  time 
being  the  conflict  within  the  party  is  of  more  conse- 
quence than  that  with  its  legitimate  enemy.  Over 
such  a  condition  a  national  committee  has  no  power; 
a  contest  is  unavoidable. 

For  the  eight  years  previous  to  1884  serious  divi- 
sions had  existed  in  the  Republican  party,  but  no 
single,  clear-cut  national  problem  furnished  the 
ground  of  strife.  The  reform  of  the  civil  service  was, 
however,  one  of  the  issues  involved,  and  just  at  the 
time  when  the  convention  met  in  1884  the  one  sharp 
line  of  separation  which  the  whole  country  clearly 
understood  was  on  the  simple  question.  Shall  James 
G.  Blaine  be  the  presidential  candidate?  The  com- 
mittee nominated  for  temporary  chairman  one  who 
was  known  as  a  supporter  of  Mr.  Blaine,  and  the 
opposing  section  of  the  party  made  an  alternate  nomi- 
nation. In  the  debate  which  ensued  not  one  word  was 
said  about  the  real  matters  involved.  The  nominee  of 
the  committee  was  Powell  Clayton  of  Arkansas.  The 
convention  nominated  John  R.  Lynch,  a  colored  dele- 

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PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

gate  from  Mississippi.  Both  sides  agreed  that  the 
South  should  be  honored  with  the  position,  and  the 
supporters  of  Mr.  Lynch  maintained  that  their  candi- 
date was  more  fairly  a  representative  of  the  party  in 
that  section  than  Mr.  Clayton.  There  was  no  direct 
criticism  of  the  action  of  the  committee  farther  than 
was  implied  in  the  mere  intimation  that  a  more  typi- 
cal Southern  representative  could  have  been  selected. 
The  supporters  of  the  committee  were  ardent  in  de- 
fense of  its  candidate.  The  first  speaker  urged  the 
convention  not  to  depart  from  the  unbroken  precedent 
of  forty  years,  and  closed  with  these  words :  ' '  Now  let 
us  sustain  the  National  committee  in  this  matter, 
which,  I  tell  you,  gentlemen,  is  for  the  success  and 
harmony  of  the  Republican  party  of  this  country." 
In  the  vote  which  followed  the  discussion  the  commit- 
tee's candidate  was  defeated,  yet  the  convention  after 
all  nominated  Mr.  Blaine. 

The  corresponding  incident  in  the  Democratic  con- 
vention is  much  more  important.  In  this  case  the 
division  was  upon  a  definite  national  question  which 
had  for  twenty  years  been  matter  for  internal  dissen- 
sion in  both  political  parties.  In  their  national  plat- 
forms both  parties  had  professed  to  hold  a  friendly 
attitude  toward  the  free  coinage  of  silver^  Both  had 
incurred  about  equal  blame  for  the  policy  which  had 
resulted  in  the  discontinuance  of  the  coinage  of  silver. 
The  time  had  now  come  for  some  sort  of  decisive  set- 
tlement of  the  question. 

The  Republican  convention  of  1896  had  already 
met  and  put  forth  an  unmistakable  declaration  in 
favor  of  the  maintenance  of  the  gold  standard.    This 

76 


THE   NATIONAL   COMMITTEE 


had  divided  the  convention ;  a  portion  of  the  delegates 
had  seceded  and  multitudes  were  driven  out  of  the 
party.  There  was  no  doubt  that  a  clear  majority 
in  the  Democratic  party  was  in  favor  of  the  free 
coinage  of  silver,  and  they  let  it  be  known  that 
they  intended  to  use  their  regular  party  machinery 
to  give  effect  to  their  opinions.  In  the  debate  over 
the  preliminary  organization  of  the  Republican  con- 
vention of  1884  it  was  intimated  by  one  of  the 
speakers  that  the  national  committee  would  have 
been  willing  to  name  as  chairman  of  the  convention 
the  candidate  who  was  the  choice  of  the  convention, 
had  they  been  warned  in  advance  that  their  own  nomi- 
nee would  not  be  acceptable.  Now,  the  Democratic 
committee  had  been  warned  in  advance,  in  1896.  It  is 
matter  of  record  that  Senators  Jones  of  Arkansas, 
Turpie  of  Indiana,  and  Daniels  of  Virginia,  and 
Governors  Stone  of  Missouri  and  Altgeld  of  Illinois 
appeared  before  the  committee  and  requested  them  to 
appoint  as  chairman  of  the  convention  a  well-known 
representative  of  the  majority  section  of  the  party. 
Twenty-three  members  of  the  committee  endeavored  to 
comply  with  this  request  and  named  Senator  Daniel's 
of  Virginia  for  the  position.  Twenty-seven  other 
members  refused  to  regard  the  wish  of  the  majority, 
and  presented  to  the  convention  the  name  of  David 
B.  Hill  of  New  York.  The  committee  by  its  majority 
and  minority  reports  reflected  in  itself  the  irrepar- 
able breach  in  the  party  over  the  question  at  issue. 

In  the  debate  which  followed,  the  supporters  of  Mr. 
Hill  rested  their  case  almost  entirely  upon  the  impor- 
tance of  continuing  unbroken  the  time-honored  cus- 

77 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

torn  of  accepting  the  nominee  of  the  committee.  It 
was  conceded  that  a  majority  of  the  convention  dif- 
fered from  Mr.  Hill  on  the  silver  question.  Other 
instances  were  given  in  which  the  temporary  chair- 
man was  known  in  advance  to  represent  a  minority 
of  the  party  on  some  public  issue,  and  both  sides  in 
the  debate  made  use  of  the  Republican  example  of 
1884.  The  remarks  of  supporters  of  Mr.  Daniels  re- 
vealed the  fact  that  their  minds  had  been  influenced 
by  newspaper  reports  of  a  plan  to  organize  and  con- 
trol the  convention  so  as  to  thwart  the  will  of  the 
majority.  The  minority  nominee  was  elected,  and  the 
convention  was  organized  and  controlled  by  the  free- 
silver  section  of  the  party. 

When  the  national  convention  has  been  organized 
the  authority  of  the  national  committee  is  at  an  end, 
though  the  chairman  retains  his  office  until  the  new 
national  committee  has  been  organized.  During  the 
brief  space  of  its  existence  the  convention  embodies 
the  full  scope  of  party  powder.  It  is  supposed  to 
come  directly  from  the  people  and  to  speak  for  all 
the  primaries.  Before  its  adjournment  it  provides  for 
the  transfer  of  a  portion  of  its  authority  and  functions 
to  a  new  national  committee  chosen  for  the  ensuing 
four  years. 

The  work  of  the  convention  which  fixes  public  at- 
tention is  not,  however,  the  appointment  of  committees 
but  the  nomination  of  candidates.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  divisions  and  contests  within  the  party 
before  the  meeting  of  the  convention  and  during  its 
sessions,  after  the  nominations  have  been  made  and 
the  convention  has  adjourned,  it  is  expected  that  all 

78 


THE   NATIONAL   COMMITTEE 


dissension  will  disappear,  all  conflict  cease,  and  the 
party  ranks  close  np  for  a  vigorous  campaign  on 
behalf  of  the  chosen  candidates.  It  is  in  the  midst  of 
such  an  atmosphere  and  under  the  influence  of  such 
a  spirit  that  the  new  committee  comes  into  existence 
and  has  its  first  experience.  The  members  of  the  com- 
mittee are  nominated  before  the  convention  by  the 
delegates  from  the  different  States  and  Territories, 
each  being  entitled  to  one  representative  on  the  com- 
mittee. Though  the  several  sets  of  delegates  may  have 
differed  widely  in  respect  to  the  various  matters 
brought  before  the  convention,  it  is  imperative  that 
they  should  unite  in  the  selection  of  such  a  committee 
as  will  work  effectively  for  the  success  of  the  party 
ticket.  It  would  be  an  exhibition  of  unusual  bad 
faith  for  any  delegation  to  nominate  for  committee- 
man one  who  would  not  heartily  cooperate  with  the 
others  for  attaining  the  immediate  object  of  the  party 
endeavor— w^inning  the  election. 

The  conditions  naturally  bring  about  a  close  asso- 
ciation between  the  committee  and  the  chief  candidate. 
This  does  not  imply  that  the  committee  membership 
should  be  drawn  from  the  section  of  the  party  origi- 
nally favorable  to  the  successful  candidate.  On  the 
contrary,  that  would  be  the  last  thing  that  the  candi- 
date would  desire.  Rather,  the  committee  should  rep- 
resent all  sections  and  factions  that  will  consent  to  co- 
operate cordially  for  the  election  of  the  candidates  of 
the  party.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  convention  sys- 
tem of  nomination  that  the  wishes  of  the  party  candi- 
date shall  be  consulted  in  respect  to  the  appointment 
of  committees  whose  first  duties  are  the  carrying  of  the 

79 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

election,  and  conditions  sometimes  arise  in  which  it  is 
difficult  or  impossible  to  secure  the  representation  on 
the  national  committee  of  all  party  sections.  After 
the  deep-rooted  and  stubborn  divisions  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  Republican  party  in  1880  and  1884,  and 
even  more  disastrously  in  the  Democratic  party  in 
1896,  this  was  found  to  be  the  case.  Such  a  state  of 
affairs,  however,  is  indicative  of  party  readjustment 
and  change  of  membership  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
interfere  with  the  normal  working  of  party  organs. 
The  committee  of  the  convention  is,  and  must  be,  in 
an  important  sense,  the  committee  of  the  candidate, 
who  is  either  directly  consulted  as  to  its  choice  or  has 
his  known  preferences  carefully  regarded.  In  some 
of  the  States  it  is  the  rule  of  the  party  that  the  can- 
didates or  the  principal  one  shall  name  the  committee. 

In  all  party  committees  much  power  rests  with  the 
chairman.  A  large  part  of  the  committee's  work  is 
of  such  a  nature  that  it  can  be  done  only  by  one  man 
acting  on  individual  initiative.  In  the  case  of  the 
national  committee,  whether  or  not  the  presidential 
candidate  is  consulted  as  to  its  general  composition, 
he  is  sure  to  have  a  voice  in  the  selection  of  its  chair- 
man. 

Besides  the  national  committee,  whose  membership 
is  too  large  for  acting  effectively  as  a  body,  a  special 
campaign  committee  may  be  appointed  to  have  charge 
of  the  immediate  labor  of  marshaling  the  forces  and 
conducting  the  campaign.  Even  more  than  the  na- 
tional committee  this  is  peculiarly  the  committee  of  the 
candidate.  It  may  be  formed  by  the  chairman  of  the 
national  committee  calling  to  his  aid  a  corps  of  assis- 

80 


THE  NATIONAL  COMMITTEE 


tants,  or  it  may  be  a  separate  body  with  a  chairman 
of  its  own.  In  any  case  the  presidential  candidate  is 
consulted  as  to  its  make-up.  The  few  months  which 
intervene  between  the  convention  and  the  election  arc 
a  period  of  exacting  cares  and  wearing  activity  for 
the  newly  appointed  national  committee,  and  it  is  then 
that  its  members  acquire  the  experience  and  wisdom 
which  prepare  them  for  the  performance  of  the  deli- 
cate and  responsible  labors  of  the  remainder  of  their 
term  of  office. 

All  the  party  machinery,  local,  state,  and  Federal, 
must  be  in  the  fullest  and  best  working  order  for  the 
great  campaign.  Not  alone  is  a  President  to  be  elected : 
the  party  has  candidates  also  for  the  lower  House  of 
Congress,  for  the  state  legislatures  in  nearly  all  the 
States  who  w^ill  be  called  upon  to  vote  for  a  United 
States  senator;  candidates  for  governor  and  other 
state  officers;  candidates  for  county  offices,  for  city, 
town,  ward,  and  village  offices.  -Many  of  the  local 
offices  which  in  the  three  other  years  are  filled  with 
little  reference  to  party  ties,  are  in  presidential  years 
taken  in  hand  by  the  regular  party  organizations. 

The  vast  activities  set  in  motion  in  States,  districts, 
counties,  towns,  and  villages,  are  all  subject  to  the 
guidance  of  the  national  committee.  It  is  the  policy 
of  this  committee  to  utilize  to  the  full  state  and  local 
machinery.  The  state  central  committee  found  in 
every  State  is  organically  independent  of  the  national 
committee ;  for  it  is  rare  indeed  for  a  member  of  the 
latter  to  be  also  a  member  of  the  former.  Yet  during 
the  campaign  each  state  committee  makes  itself  an 
effective  part  of  the  working  force  of  the  centralized 
6  81 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

organization  engaged  in  striving  to  elect  a  President. 
The  independence  of  the  state  organs  really  renders 
national  control  all  the  more  easy  and  effective.  Par- 
ties are  governed  by  influence  rather  than  by  author- 
ity. Internal  dissensions  may  rage  for  three  years  of 
the  quadrennial  period,  but  during  the  presidential 
campaign  the  discordant  factions,  as  a  rule,  gain  an 
experience  of  harmonious  cooperation.  At  least  there 
is  the  profession  of  harmony  accompanied  by  many 
public  acts  in  accord  with  the  profession.  Here  lies  the 
great  value  of  the  national  committee.  The  commit- 
tee does  not  order  the  state  quarrels  to  cease,  but  it 
exerts  an  influence  in  favor  of  harmony.  The  state 
member  of  the  national  committee  is  a  pacifying,  har- 
monizing agent.  One  of  his  duties  is  to  observe  the 
working  of  state  and  local  party  organs  and  to  inform 
his  associates  in  charge  of  the  campaign  with  reference 
to  all  sources  of  party  weakness,  and  all  means  for  the 
increase  of  party  strength.  The  ordinary  committee 
member,  like  other  influential  members  of  the  party, 
takes  an  active  part  in  the  campaign  as  speaker,  v/riter, 
counsellor ;  but  his  especial  service  is  in  observing  the 
conduct  of  others,  in  giving  information  to  the  leaders, 
and  in  healing  local  dissensions.  Thus  he  gains  the 
peculiar  training  which  he  needs  to  fit  him  to  share 
in  the  difficult  task  of  keeping  the  party  together  dur- 
ing the  less  exciting  but  not  less  important  period  be- 
tween campaigns,  and  of  preparing  for  and  organizing 
the  next  national  convention. 

The  national  party  organs  and  their  functions  are 
in  most  respects  identical  in  the  two  great  parties. 

82 


THE   NATIONAL   COMMITTEE 


There  are,  however,  a  few  slight  functional  diversities 
growing  out  of  the  differences  in  the  rules  adopted  for 
the  guidance  of  the  national  convention. 

The  Democratic  national  convention  has  always 
adhered  to  what  is  known  as  the  unit  rule.  That  is, 
the  convention  has  limited  its  own  authority  in  deter- 
mining its  own  composition  to  the  mere  act  of  notify- 
ing the  various  States  and  Territories  of  the  number 
of  delegates  which  they  are  entitled  to  send,  leaving  to 
the  States  the  manner  of  choosing  those  delegates  and 
leaving  also  to  the  delegation  from  each  State  the 
manner  of  casting  their  votes  in  the  convention.  Thus, 
if  a  state  delegation  decides  that  they  will  vote  to- 
gether as  a  body,  the  convention  will  not  interfere. 
It  also  permits  a  majority  of  the  members  of  a  state 
delegation  to  cast  the  entire  vote  of  the  State  against 
the  protest  of  a  minority  of  the  delegation. 

When  this  issue  was  raised  in  the  Republican  con- 
vention the  decision  was  in  favor  of  the  right  of  the 
minority  in  a  state  delegation  to  have  their  votes 
counted.  And  in  the  discussion  which  accompanied 
the  decision  especial  emphasis  was  given  to  the  right 
of  the  people  in  each  congressional  district  to  a  voice 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  convention.  This  has  led  the 
Republican  party  to  formulate  rules  governing  the 
manner  of  choosing  delegates  in  the  various  States. 

Previous  to  1884  the  Republican  committee  in  call- 
ing the  convention  gave  no  instructions  as  to  the 
method  of  selecting  delegates;  but  the  call  for  that 
year  specified  that  the  four  delegates-at-large  should 
be  chosen  by  state  conventions,  and  gave  to  the  Repub- 

83 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

licans  in  the  congressional  districts  the  option  of  elect- 
ing delegates  by  district  convention  fifteen  days  before 
the  state  convention,  or  by  district  delegates  at  the 
meeting  of  the  state  convention.  The  convention  of 
1888  adopted  the  rule  that  "each  congressional  dis- 
trict in  the  United  States  shall  elect  its  delegates  to 
the  national  convention  in  the  same  way  as  the  nomi- 
nation for  a  member  of  Congress  is  made  in  said  dis- 
trict."  With  slight  modifications  this  rule  has  been 
embodied  in  each  call  for  the  convention  since  that 
date.  The  Republican  rule  gives  increased  impor- 
tance to  the  congressional  district,  and  tends  to  make 
it  a  more  significant  factor  in  party  organization.  The 
Democratic  rule  makes  the  State  the  unit  and  tends  to 
the  retention  of  larger  powers  in  the  state  convention. 

In  respect  to  some  of  the  duties  of  the  members 
of  the  national  committee  certain  differences  may  be 
noted  between  the  party  in  power  and  the  party  in  op- 
position. For  example,  in  States  which  have  no  rep- 
resentative of  the  party  in  Congress,  the  party  com- 
mitteeman of  the  State  is  often  a  potent  agent  in  the 
distribution  of  patronage,  assuming,  in  this  particular 
at  least,  functions  which  in  other  States  are  exercised 
by  senators  and  representatives.  A  Republican  Pres- 
ident may  consult  the  members  of  the  national  com- 
mittee from  Southern  States  which  have  no  Republi- 
can members  of  Congress,  in  respect  to  appointments. 

The  powers  of  the  national  committee  have  in  re- 
cent years  been  brought  more  prominently  into  public 
notice  than  ever  before.  The  increased  importance  of 
organization,  so  manifest  in  business  enterprises  and 
labor  unions,  has. been  reflected  in  the  political  par- 

84 


THE   NATIONAL   COMMITTEP] 


ties.  William  McKinley  was  nominated  in  1896  by- 
means  of  a  systematic,  organized  effort  extending  to 
the  primaries.  Since  that  date  the  chairman  of  the 
national  committee  has  been  constantly  before  the 
country  as  a  distinct  political  force. 

The  convention  which  nominated  William  Jennings 
Bryan  in  1896  had  not,  at  the  time  of  assembling, 
reached  a  definite  conclusion  as  to  a  candidate,  but  an 
entirely  definite  conclusion  had  been  reached  with  ref- 
erence to  the  chief  issue  to  be  presented  in  the  plat- 
form. By  a  prearranged,  systematic  movement  the 
free-silver  section  of  the  party  had  come  to  a  clear 
understanding.  Through  correspondence  reaching  to 
the  primaries  of  all  the  States  the  sense  of  the  con- 
vention had  become  known.  It  was  known  also  that 
a  majority  of  the  national  committee  was  not  in  har- 
mony with  the  majority  in  the  convention.  Hence  a 
conflict  arose  in  the  committee  itself  over  the  nomina- 
tion of  a  temporary  chairman.  As  soon  as  the  con- 
vention, called  together  with  a  predetermined  purpose, 
got  control  of  the  party  forces,  steps  were  taken  to  se- 
cure for  the  next  committee  persons  sympathizing  with 
the  views  of  the  party  majority.  Senator  Jones  of  Ar- 
kansas was  made  chairman  of  the  committee,  because 
of  the  active  part  he  had  taken  in  the  leadership  of  the 
party  in  the  Chicago  convention  and,  as  stated  above, 
he  was  given  full  power  for  harmonizing  the  committee. 

The  continued  struggle  in  the  ranks  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  over  the  questions  raised  in  the  Chicago 
convention  has  served  as  never  before  to  keep  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  political  party  before  the  public  eye. 
It  has  followed  that  the  men  who  have  stood  at  the 

85 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

head  of  the  two  great  party  organizations  have  been 
recognized  as  a  constant  force  in  the  government  of 
the  country,  and  have  been  consulted  upon  matters  of 
state,  not  as  public  officers,  but  as  representatives  of  a 
national  party. 

The  proceedings  of  the  national  conventions  of  the  two  parties 
furnish  the  one  source  of  official  information  upon  the  work  of 
the  national  committee.  This  committee  receives  increasing  at- 
tention in  current  literature.  See  article  in  Tlie  Atlantic  Monthly, 
Vol.  LXXXIX,  p.  76,  by  R.  Ogden. 

''The  Republican  National  Committee:  How  It  Works  for 
Votes."    Review  of  Eevietvs,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  529. 


86 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   CONGRESSIONAL   COMMITTEE 

The  origin  of  the  congressional  committee,  as  was 
mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter,  belongs  to  a  time  of 
sharp  conflict  between  the  executive  and  legislative 
branches  of  the  government.  The  Union  convention 
of  1864  was  called  by  the  national  Republican  com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  Republican  convention  which 
nominated  Mr.  Lincoln  in  1860.  It  included  and  rep- 
resented many  supporters  of  the  Lincoln  administra- 
tion who  were  not  Republicans,  and  it  was  on  account 
of  the  Union  Democrats  in  the  convention  that  Mr. 
Johnson's  name  was  placed  upon  the  ticket.  When, 
after  the  assassination  of  Lincoln,  Johnson  became 
President,  the  great  body  of  the  Republicans  in  Con- 
gress were  driven  into  opposition,  and  the  support 
of  the  Executive  came  mainly  from  the  Democrats. 
This  was  the  situation  when  the  time  approached  for 
the  election  of  a  new  Congress  in  1866.  The  President, 
having  control  of  the  public  patronage,  was  using  it 
to  strengthen  his  administration.  The  national  com- 
mittee, closely  identified  as  it  was  with  the  Executive, 
was  an  unsatisfactory  agency  for  the  use  of  the  Re- 
publicans in  Congress.  In  this  emergency  the  Repub- 
lican members  of  the  two  Houses  agreed  upon  the  ap- 

87 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

pointment  of  a  national  committee  of  their  own, 
organized  and  conducted  a  campaign,  and  secured  a 
strong  enough  representation  in  Congress  to  enable 
them  to  overcome  the  President's  veto. 

In  the  beginning,  then,  the  congressional  committee 
was  an  emergency  tool,  adopted  by  one  of  the  great 
parties  only.  But  it  was  not  long  before  it  had  so 
commended  itself  to  the  party  leaders  as  to  be  accepted 
and  made  a  permanent  part  of  the  organization,  and 
was  soon  adopted  by  the  Democratic  party  likewise.  It 
meets  a  real  party  need.  The  national  convention 
and  the  national  committee,  though  nominally  and 
truly  representing  the  entire  party,  are,  in  respect 
to  their  peculiar  duties,  more  specifically  associated 
w^ith  the  Executive.  The  committee  is,  indeed,  in  a 
way,  the  especial  agent  of  the  presidential  candidate, 
appointed  to  secure  his  election  and  identified  with  his 
interests.  Now,  as  has  been  already  explained,  mem- 
bers of  Congress,  even  of  the  same  political  connection, 
have  duties  and  interests  quite  distinct  from  those  of 
the  Executive,  and  the  national  congressional  com- 
mittee is  an  institutional  recognition  of  a  patent  and 
significant  fact.  It  not  infrequently  happens  that  seri- 
ous differences  arise  between  the  President  and  his 
party  in  Congress,  and  it  is  highly  important  that 
these  dissensions  should  not  be  allowed  to  mar  the 
party  unity  in  the  voting  constituencies.  Conceding 
the  President's  prior  claim  upon  the  original  national 
committee.  Congress  can  place  full  confidence  in  a 
committee  of  its  own  members  connecting  it  directly 
with  the  local  organizations  in  each  congressional  dis- 
trict. 

88 


THP]   CONGRESSIONAL   COMMITTEE 

Especially  is  the  usefulness  of  the  congressional 
committee  demonstrated  at  the  time  of  the  important 
election  occurring  midway  between  presidential  elec- 
tions, when  an  entire  lower  House  is  chosen  and  one 
third  of  the  Senate  is  also  subject  to  change.  Mem- 
bers of  the  national  committee  also  may,  as  individuals, 
take  an  active  part  in  these  elections,  but  the  com- 
mittee does  not  organize  and  take  charge  of  the  cam- 
paign as  in  presidential  years.  This  is  now  left  to  the 
congressional  committee,  which  prepares  and  issues  a 
campaign  text-book  and  other  literature,  and  assists 
doubtful  districts  by  supplying  speakers  and  funds 
for  campaign  purposes.  The  committee  does  not  put 
forth  a  formal  platform.  It  assumes  that  the  declara- 
tion of  principles  adopted  by  the  last  preceding  na- 
tional convention  is  in  force  so  far  as  it  is  applicable 
to  the  conditions.  But  when  new  issues  have  arisen, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  war  with  Spain  in  1898,  the  atti- 
tude of  the  two  parties  toward  those  questions  will 
find  expression  in  the  campaign  literature  prepared 
by  the  congressional  committees  of  the  two  parties. 

No  fixed  rules  define  the  relations  of  the  two  na- 
tional party  committees  to  each  other.  They  are  ex- 
pected, of  course,  to  work  in  harmony  for  the  triumph 
of  the  party.  In  presidential  years  the  congressional 
committee  holds  a  relatively  subordinate  place.  It  is- 
sues no  text-book  of  its  own,  but  may  assist  the  na- 
tional committee  in  the  preparation  of  such  a  work. 
While  it  may  raise  funds  and  aid  doubtful  districts,  it 
must  not,  in  the  exercise  of  these  functions,  interfere 
with  the  plans  of  the  national  campaign  committee. 

Some  fluctuations  appear  in  the  comparative  influ- 

89 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

ence  and  importance  of  the  Republican  congressional 
committee  at  different  periods  during  the  nearly  forty 
years  of  its  existence.  The  committee  was  particularly 
active  in  the  campaign  of  1880,  and  there  was  at  the 
same  time  a  lack  of  harmony  with  the  national  com- 
mittee, which  gave  rise  to  the  question  of  the  utility  of 
the  double  organization.  During  the  twelve  years  fol- 
lowing, the  Republican  congressional  committee  was 
less  conspicuous  and  less  active ;  but  in  1894  it  assumed 
new  life  and  has  ever  since  been  the  prominent  and 
efficient  agent  of  the  party  for  the  election  of  congress- 
men in  the  ''off"  years.  Indeed,  it  is  apparent  that 
within  the  last  decade  the  congressional  committees  of 
both  parties  have  taken  a  place  of  increasing  impor- 
tance. During  this  same  period  the  national  commit- 
tees of  both  the  parties  have  been  shown  to  manifest  a 
growing  activity  and  influence,  and  it  may  now  be  ac- 
cepted as  the  settled  policy  of  party  organization  to 
maintain  the  two  committees  permanently.  The  one  is 
peculiarly  the  organ  of  the  quadrennial  national  con- 
vention, and  closely  associated  with  executive  leader- 
ship in  national  politics,  while  the  other,  emanating 
directly  from  Congress,  becomes  an  organ  for  legisla- 
tive leadership,  and  is  more  particularly  useful  to  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

After  a  new  House  of  Representatives  has  been 
elected  the  congressional  committee  is  reorganized, 
the  former  committee  having  expired  with  the  Con- 
gress which  created  it.  The  new  committee  is,  in  the 
Republican  party,  called  into  existence  by  a  joint 
caucus  of  the  members  of  the  party  in  the  two  Houses, 
which  is  called  in  the  ordinary  way,  that  is,  by  petition 

90 


THE   CONGRESSIONAL   COMMITTEE 

of  party  members  in  each  House.  At  this  meeting  of 
senators  and  representatives  the  representatives  from 
each  State  and  Territory  designate  one  of  their  num- 
ber to  serve  on  the  committee.  If  there  is  but  one 
party  member  in  Congress  from  any  State  or  Terri- 
tory, that  one  becomes  a  member  of  the  committee.  If 
the  State  or  Territory  has  no  Republican  representa- 
tive in  Congress,  it  has  no  representation  on  the  Re- 
publican congressional  committee.  There  is  no  rule  as 
to  whether  any  of  the  members  of  the  committee  shall 
be  senators,  though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  some  senators 
are  always  chosen.  The  great  majority  is,  however, 
from  the  lower  House. 

In  the  organization  of  the  Democratic  congressional 
committee  several  differences  appear.  In  the  first 
place,  the  members  of  the  committee,  instead  of  being 
chosen  at  a  joint  caucus  of  the  two  Houses,  are  ap- 
pointed at  separate  caucuses  of  the  Houses.  There  is 
also  a  definite  rule  respecting  the  representation  from 
each  House.  The  Senate  has  nine  members  on  the 
committee,  appointed  by  the  senatorial  caucus ;  and 
in  addition  to  these,  each  State  and  Territory  which 
has  representatives  in  the  lower  House  has  a  member 
from  that  House  on  the  committee.  If  it  happens  that 
any  State  or  Territory  has  no  party  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  then  some  prominent  Demo- 
crat in  the  State  or  Territory  is  chosen  to  serve  on  the 
committee.  The  Democratic  method  creates  a  much 
larger  committee  than  does  the  Republican  method. 
In  1903  the  Democratic  committee  numbered  fifty- 
nine  ;  the  Republican,  thirty- four. 

This  difference  in  the  organization  of  the  congres- 

91 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

sional  committees  of  the  two  parties,  reflects  the  differ- 
ences previously  pointed  out  in  their  history  and  their 
position  before  the  country.  The  one  has  had  a  hun- 
dred years  of  continuous  organic  life  in  every  part 
of  the  land,  interrupted  only  by  the  four  years  of 
the  Confederacy.  The  other  came  into  existence  by 
means  of  a  massed  vote  in  one  section  only;  and 
when  the  new  organization  was  extended  over  the 
South  it  was  under  abnormal  conditions  and  by  the 
use  of  abnormal  agencies  such  as  cannot  again  be 
employed.  It  follows  that  in  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  country  the  Republican  party  has  never  had  a 
really  normal  organization.  Though  it  calls  itself  a 
national  party  and  its  committee  the  national  Repub- 
lican committee,  it  remains  true  that  in  that  committee 
ten  or  twelve  great  States  have  no  representation. 
There  is  likewise,  corresponding  to  this  diversity  of 
organization,  a  difference  in  the  spirit  and  methods 
of  administration.  The  Democratic  congressional 
committee  keeps  in  close  touch  with  the  national  com- 
mittee and  seeks  to  add  strength  to  the  party  in  all 
sections  alike.  The  Republican  committee,  on  the 
contrary,  makes  it  a  fundamental  principle  of  its  party 
policy  to  exert  its  special  efforts  in  the  few  doubtful 
districts  in  which  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  in  the 
pending  election  the  party  may  be  strengthened. 

As  evidence  of  its  value  to  the  party  the  Republican 
congressional  committee  points  proudly  to  the  fact 
that  for  twenty  years  previous  to  its  marked  revival  in 
the  election  of  1894  the  majority  in  the  lower  House 
had,  at  each  election  occurring  midway  between  the 
presidential   elections,   been   shifted  to   the   opposite 

92 


THE  CONGRESSIONAL   COMMITTEE 

party,  whereas  since  that  time  the  Republicans  have 
maintained  uninterrupted  ascendancy.  The  power 
and  efficiency  of  the  committee  are  indeed  undeniable. 
Its  far-reaching  designs,  projected  and  executed,  chal- 
lenge the  admiration  of  any  unprejudiced  politician. 
While  limiting  its  special  expenditures  to  the  few 
doubtful  districts,  the  members  of  the  committee  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  campaign  cooperate  with  party 
agents  in  all  districts  w^here  any  organization  is  main- 
tained. An  incident  which  occurred  at  the  close  of  the 
campaign  of  1902  illustrates  the  thoroughness  of  the 
work  of  the  committee.  The  three  men  who  had  been 
chief  managers  of  the  campaign  made  independent 
estimates  of  the  probable  results  the  day  before  the 
election,  and  these  three  independent  calculations  gave 
to  the  party  in  the  low^er  House  a  membership  of  204, 
206,  and  208,  respectively;  while  the  actual  number 
w^as  found,  when  the  returns  came  in,  to  be  209.  This 
was  the  more  remarkable  since  by  the  census  of  1900 
the  areas  of  a  majority  of  the  districts  had  been 
changed,  and  the  committeemen  had  executed  the  most 
difficult  task  of  preparing  tabulated  lists  of  the  party 
vote  in  the  new  areas  for  the  three  preceding  elections. 
The  development  of  the  enlarged  powers  and  func- 
tions of  the  congressional  committees  in  both  parties 
has  been  attended  by  a  corresponding  modification  of 
the  organization  in  the  various  States.  Though  there 
is  no  uniform  rule  for  the  different  States  or  even,  in 
many  cases,  for  the  different  districts  in  the  same 
State,  there  has  yet  been  manifested  a  general  ten- 
dency to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  the  congressional  dis- 
trict committees.     The  separate  organization  for  con- 

93 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

trolling  the  election  of  congressmen  may  reach  to  the 
counties,  and  even  to  the  voting  precincts.  In  such 
cases  the  voters  are  under  guidance  from  two  sep- 
arate machines  of  the  same  party,  one  directing 
their  action  in  respect  to  the  single  duty  of  choosing 
a  representative  to  Congress,  the  other  furnishing 
guidance  in  the  interest  of  the  party  as  a  whole  in 
connection  with  the  filling  of  local,  state,  and  Federal 
offices.  Even  where  the  party  organization  does  not 
ramify  through  the  smaller  political  divisions,  the 
local  and  county  committees  find  themselves  sub- 
ject to  instructions  from  two  independent  authorities 
— the  congressional  district  committee  and  the  state 
committee. 

Special  party  organization  in  the  congressional  dis- 
tricts is  greatly  affected  by  the  character  of  the 
aspirants  for  office  therein,  and  particularly  by  that  of 
the  one  who  habitually  carries  the  district.  Since  each 
district,  therefore,  is  under  the  personal  leadership 
of  the  candidate,  it  tends  to  assume  a  character  of  its 
own.  The  member  usually  elected  from  term  to  term 
either  has  an  organization  of  his  own  or  he  has  friends 
who  further  his  plans.  His  personal  ambition  and  his 
personal  efforts  contribute  to  the  success  of  his  party, 
while  he  may  retain  a  sort  of  ownership  in  the  agen- 
cies which  he  has  created.  A  story  is  told  of  an  aspi- 
rant for  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  a 
doubtful  district  who  hired  a  pseudo  lightning-rod 
peddler  to  traverse  the  district  and  restore  the  party 
organization  in  places  where  it  had  fallen  into  disuse. 
The  district  was  thus  redeemed,  and  the  revivified 
machine  remained,  in  a  sense,  a  personal  asset  of  the 

94 


THE  CONGRESSIONAL   COMMITTEE 

candidate  who  had  placed  his  party  under  obligations 
to  him  for  its  victory. 

The  congressional  committee  has  for  the  most  part 
escaped  public  attention.  The  committee  which  con- 
ducts the  presidential  campaign  is  constantly  before 
the  public,  and  its  chairman  is  a  conspicuous  national 
character.  But  the  committee  which  holds  a  corre- 
sponding* position  in  the  mid-term  election  labors  with- 
out public  notice.  Like  the  House  of  Representatives, 
w^hose  organ  it  is,  by  escaping  public  controversy  it  has 
incurred  neglect. 


95 


CHAPTER  VIII 


STATE  PARTY   ORGANIZATION 


Each  State  of  the  Union  is  independent  of  every 
other  and  has  a  distinct  and  separate  history.  Citi- 
zenship in  the  United  States  is  normally  attained 
through  citizenship  in  a  particular  State.  The  State 
is  a  definite  object  of  loyalty  and  patriotic  attachment. 
Multitudes  of  citizens  in  the  Southern  States  were  in 
1861  warmly  devoted  to  the  Union  and  strongly  op- 
posed to  secession,  yet  they  were  comparatively  few 
who  did  not  with  a  superior  loyalty  to  their  State  go 
with  it  into  the  final  conflict.  While  the  results  of  the 
war  have  developed  and  emphasized  a  sense  of  the 
higher  national  claim,  they  have  not  eradicated  and  it 
may  well  be  questioned  whether  they  have,  in  any  de- 
gree, lessened  the  primitive  and  fundamental  attach- 
ment of  the  American  citizen  to  his  State. 

American  politics  is  characterized  by  association 
with  distinct  local  areas.  Should  a  foreign  enemy 
destroy  the  government  at  Washington  the  effect 
would  be  the  creation  of  fifty  sovereign  states  with 
governments  already  organized.  Each  governor  would 
become  a  dictator  having  full  command  of  all  the  re- 
sources of  the  state.  If  destructive  forces  should 
assail  the  ordinary  government  of  a  State,  then  the 

96 


STATE   PARTY   ORGANIZATION 


people,  utilizing  the  governmental  fragments  re- 
maining in  county,  town,  city,  and  village,  would 
speedily  extemporize  a  substitute. 

Out  of  older  counties  and  towns  the  States  have  been 
built  up.  The  people  know,  or  think  they  know,  how 
counties  and  townships  are  made,  because,  in  the  not 
distant  past  they  have  themselves  had  a  share  in  organ- 
izing them.  They  see  how  these  have  built  the  States 
and  the  States  the  Nation.  The  American  will  not  ac- 
cept, as  representative  of  his  township,  district,  or 
other  local  area  of  whatever  name  or  nature,  one  not  a 
resident  of  it,  because  this  would  seem  to  violate  a  fun- 
damental principle  in  his  established  method  of  state- 
building.  The  State  is  formed  out  of  preexisting  or- 
ganic areas ;  if  these  are  not  kept  intact  the  structure 
is  impaired.  But  should  the  governmental  super- 
structure be  destroyed,  a  new  one  may  be  supplied, 
provided  only  the  foundations  are  preserved. 

That  a  strong  attachment  to  geographically  localized 
institutions  is  fraught  with  danger  to  the  state  is  a 
truth  familiar  to  the  student  of  history.  Had  not 
some  means  been  found,  some  agencies  invented  to  bind 
together  the  people  of  the  separated  localities,  wars 
between  the  sections  would  have  become  chronic.  The 
instruments  for  affecting  the  national  unification  have 
been  many,  and  among  them  as  holding  an  important 
place  must  be  counted  our  dual  system  of  political 
parties. 

''Politics,"  we  are  told,  ''makes  strange  bedfel- 
lows." True  it  is  that  individuals  and  peoples  other- 
wise most  discordant  have  been  brought  into  the  closest 
sympathy  and  cooperation  through  the  agency  of 
7  97 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

party  machinery.  The  great  national  party  has  cre- 
ated a  new  bond  of  union  which  defies  even  the  old 
clan  or  tribal  instincts,  and  brings  together  those  who 
without  it  would  have  been  hostile.  At  the  same 
time,  the  elemental  human  instinct  which  craves  the 
excitement  of  war  is  gratified  in  the  recurring,  hard- 
fought  battles  between  the  two  well-matched  political 
hosts.  These  furnish  a  maximum  of  interesting  and 
spectacular  incident  with  a  minimum  of  bloodshed  and 
lasting  resentment. 

Not  only  have  persons  and  peoples  naturally  di- 
verse been  united  and  harmonized  through  party  as- 
sociation; hostile  sections  and  sections  with  opposing 
interests  have  likewise  been  thus  kept  in  relations  of 
tolerable  harmony  and  submission  to  the  general  will. 
From  the  very  beginning  of  the  Union  disruption  was 
threatened,  but  no  actual  disruption  occurred  until 
a  President  had  been  elected  who  was  the  candidate  of 
a  party  representing  only  one  section  of  the  country, 
and  the  breach  which  rent  the  national  parties  in 
twain  preceded  the  attempt  to  destroy  the  Union. 

The  framers  of  the  Federal  Constitution  aimed  at 
a  definite  partition  of  powers  and  duties  between  the 
States  and  the  general  government.  The  States,  with 
their  own  separately  chosen  officers,  were  to  attend  to 
the  duties  reserved  to  them,  while  the  Nation,  through 
officers  of  its  own,  should  exercise  the  powers  conferred 
upon  it  by  the  Constitution.  The  two  governments 
and  their  two  fields  were  made  as  distinct  as  the  nature 
of  the  business  would  admit.  But  the  two  governments 
dealing  with  the  same  subjects  have  many  points  of 
contact ;  many  cases  arise  where  authorities  conflict. 

98 


STATE   PARTY   ORGANIZATION 


Among  the  duties  assigned  to  the  States  was  that  of 
choosing  presidential  electors.  The  Constitution  says : 
"Each  State  shall  appoint  in  such  manner  as  the  leg- 
islature thereof  may  direct,  a  number  of  electors  equal 
to  the  whole  number  of  senators  and  representatives 
to  which  the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Congress." 
Around  this  clause  of  the  Constitution  it  is  that  the 
entire  system  of  political  parties  in  the  United  States 
has  been  built  up.  According  to  the  Constitution,  the 
state  legislature  takes  the  initiative  in  electing  a  Pres- 
ident. It  may  name  the  electors  by  its  own  direct  act, 
as  many  of  them  did  at  first,  or  it  may  provide  by  law 
for  choosing  them  in  some  other  way.  When  the 
electors  for  a  given  State  have  been  chosen,  their  sole 
duty  is  to  meet  at  the  capital  of  the  State,  as  the  law 
directs,  and  cast  their  votes  for  a  President  and  a 
Vice-President,  and  make  return  of  the  result  to  the 
proper  officers. 

From  the  beginning,  the  general  popular  interest 
in  the  question  of  choosing  the  Chief  Magistrate  was 
intense.  With  practical  unanimity  the  people  de- 
manded Washington  for  their  first  President,  and 
electors  were  chosen  in  harmony  with  their  will. 
When  Washington  refused  to  be  a  candidate  for  a 
third  term,  voters  were  divided  in  their  preferences. 
Already  party  divisions  and  party  names  had  ap- 
peared. John  Adams,  a  Federalist,  received  a  major- 
ity of  the  electoral  votes  and  became  President,  while 
Thomas  Jefferson,  a  Republican,  having  the  next  high- 
est number  of  votes,  was  elected  Vice-President.  Had 
party  lines  been  closely  drawn  in  1796,  this  division 
of  the  chief  offices  between  the  parties  could  not  have 

99 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

occurred.  They  were  so  drawn  in  the  next  election, 
and  the  result  was  the  defeat  of  the  Federalist  candi- 
dates, while  the  two  Republican  candidates  each  re- 
ceived the  entire  vote  of  his  party.  But  in  spite  of  a 
decisive  Republican  majority,  no  President  had  been 
elected,  since  the  two  candidates  had  each  the  same 
number  of  votes.  The  election,  therefore,  devolved 
upon  the  House  of  Representatives.  This  experience 
showed  that  the  Constitution  must  be  changed  so  as  to 
enable  the  electors  to  specify  in  voting  the  office  as 
well  as  the  person  for  which  the  votes  were  cast.  Be- 
fore the  next  election,  the  Twelfth  Amendment  had 
been  added  to  the  Constitution.  To  the  alarm  of  the 
conservatives,  it  was  then  generally  perceived  that, 
under  the  amendment,  what  was  practically  direct 
popular  election  of  President  and  Vice-President  was 
established. 

This  radical  change  in  the  Constitution  w^as  brought 
about  through  the  formation  of  political  parties  with 
their  party  nominating  machinery.  The  legislature 
of  each  State  has  still  the  power,  according  to  the  letter 
of  the  Constitution,  to  appoint  the  electors  in  any 
manner  it  may  please ;  and  the  electors,  after  they  are 
chosen,  have  the  legal  right  to  cast  their  votes  accord- 
ing to  their  own  judgment  for  any  candidate  they 
please,  as  was  the  intention  of  the  makers  of  the  Con- 
stitution. But  when  the  political  party  appeared  and 
party  nominations  preceded  the  choosing  of  electors, 
the  electors  were  pledged  in  advance  to  vote  for  the 
candidates  of  their  party.  It  was  clearly  seen  that  the 
party  nomination  would  result  in  giving  to  the 
candidate  for  the  Presidency  precisely  the  same  num- 

100 


STATE   PARTY   ORGANIZATION 


ber  of  votes  as  to  the  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency, and,  under  the  original  Constitution,  the  final 
choice  would  always  be  thrown  upon  the  House  of 
Representatives. 

This  realization  made  it  possible  to  carry  the 
Twelfth  Amendment.  The  people,  by  means  of  an 
organized  party  system,  unsanctioned  by  law,  have 
ordained  that  candidates  for  the  Presidency  shall 
be  named  by  national  party  nominating  conventions, 
and  that  the  President  shall  be  elected  by  direct  vote 
of  the  people  in  all  the  States.  According  to  law,  no 
one  has  ever  voted  or  can  vote  for  a  President  at  a 
so-called  presidential  election.  Citizens  cast  their 
ballots  merely  for  a  list  of  electors  w^ho  will  meet  at  a 
later  date  and  choose  a  President.  No  one  doubts, 
however,  that  the  President  is  virtually  elected  by 
popular  vote  at  the  November  election. 

The  letter  of  the  law  has,  meantime,  been  strictly 
observed.  The  appointment  of  presidential  electors 
remains  in  the  hands  of  the  States.  This  is  a  fact  of 
great  importance.  The  United  States  has  no  machin- 
ery of  its  own  for  electing  Presidents ;  to  the  States 
that  business  pertains,  with  but  slight  restriction  from 
the  Federal  authority. 

Another  clause  of  the  Constitution  reads:  ''The 
Congress  may  determine  the  time  of  choosing  elec- 
tors and  the  day  on  which  they  shall  give  their 
votes;  which  day  shall  be  the  same  throughout  the 
United  States."  In  pursuance  of  this  power,  Con- 
gress has  fixed  the  day  for  choosing  electors  and 
that  for  their  meeting  to  cast  their  vote.  This  is 
the  limit  of  its  power.     That  event  which  we  are  ac- 

101 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

customed  to  call  the  presidential  election  is,  in  fact,  a 
state  election,  held  according  to  state  law.  Federal 
power  is  exhausted  in  the  mere  fixing  of  the  date.  The 
counting  of  the  vote  for  electors  is  a  state  function. 
The  counting  of  the  vote  of  the  electors  for  President 
and  Vice-President  is  a  Federal  function.  That  act  is 
assigned  by  the  Constitution  to  the  President  of  the 
Senate,  and  it  must  be  performed  in  the  presence  of 
the  two  Houses  of  Congress.  The  really  significant 
thing  connected  with  a  presidential  election  is  the 
choosing  of  the  electors,  in  law  and  in  fact,  by  the 
individual  States. 

As  the  Federal  Government  has  no  machinery  for 
electing  the  President,  neither  has  it  any  for  electing 
members  of  Congress.  The  Constitution  prescribes  that 
''The  times,  places,  and  manner  of  holding  elections 
for  senators  and  representatives  shall  be  prescribed  in 
each  State  by  the  legislature  thereof ;  but  the  Congress 
may,  at  any  time,  by  law,  make  or  alter  such  regula- 
tions, except  as  to  the  place  of  choosing  senators."  If 
this  clause  had  ended  with  the  word  "thereof,"  then 
the  choosing  of  members  of  Congress  would  have  been 
closely  analogous  to  the  election  of  President ;  it  would 
have  been  a  state  function.  But  the  added  phrase 
gives  to  Congress  power  to  interfere  to  almost  any 
extent  with  the  election  of  its  own  members,  though 
the  business  has  been  chiefly  left  to  the  States. 

For  over  fifty  years,  members  of  Congress  were 
chosen  entirely  according  to  state  laws.  In  1842, 
Congress  prescribed  that  representatives  should  be 
elected  by  districts  in  the  States,  each  member  having 
a  separate  district ;  but  the  formation  of  the  districts 

102 


STATE   PARTY   ORGANIZATION 


was  left  to  the  States.  In  1871,  a  law  of  Congress  or- 
dained the  use  of  written  or  printed  ballots  in  voting 
for  representatives  throughout  the  Union.  Until  1866, 
senatorial  elections  took  place  without  any  congres- 
sional regulation.  In  that  year,  however,  an  act  was 
passed  prescribing  in  considerable  detail  the  procedure 
of  the  two  houses  of  the  state  legislature  in  the  elec- 
tion of  senators. 

All  these  various  acts  have  really  effected  little 
change  in  the  methods  of  choosing  members  of  Con- 
gress. They  are  mainly  such  as  the  state  legislatures 
themselves  had  adopted  or  approved,  or  they  pertain 
to  minor  details.  The  elections  are  still  left  to  the 
control  of  state  officers,  acting  under  state  authority. 

After  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  a  series  of  acts  and 
proposed  measures  appeared  which  belong  to  a  differ- 
ent class.  They  provided  for  the  active  interference 
of  Federal  officers  in  the  holding  of  elections  of  repre- 
sentatives, and  their  tendency  was  to  transfer  the 
control  of  elections  to  Federal  authority.  This  con- 
trol extended  also  to  the  choosing  of  presidential  elec- 
tors, because  they,  as  well  as  other  state  and  local 
officials,  were  chosen  at  the  same  time  as  the  repre- 
sentatives. There  was,  therefore,  no  limitation  to 
possible  Federal  interference.  These  acts  have  since 
been  repealed  or  suffered  to  fall  into  disuse,  and  the 
individual  States  are  still  left  in  practically  undis- 
turbed control  of  the  whole  subject  of  elections  of 
Federal  as  well  as  state  officers. 

To  the  States  likewise  pertains  the  regulation  of  the 
elective  franchise.  The  only  reference  to  this  subject 
in  the  original  Constitution  is  found  in  the  statement 

103 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

that  those  having  a  right  to  vote  for  the  most  numer- 
ous branch  of  the  state  legislature  shall  be  qualified 
electors  in  the  choice  of  members  of  the  lower  House 
of  Congress.  If  a  State  chooses  to  extend  to  the  newly 
arrived  foreigner  the  privilege  of  voting  for  members 
of  its  own  legislature,  the  immigrant  by  that  act  be- 
comes qualified  to  vote  for  a  representative  in  Con- 
gress, and  shares,  as  a  matter  of  course,  in  the  indirect 
process  of  electing  senators.  The  States  have  also  the 
sole  powTr  to  determine  the  qualifications  of  voters 
for  presidential  electors.  They  cannot,  indeed,  change 
an  alien  into  a  citizen,  but  they  can  grant  to  the  alien 
the  citizen's  right  to  vote. 

The  Fourteenth  Constitutional  Amendment,  while 
it  did  not  abridge  the  State's  control  of  the  elective 
franchise,  did  ordain  that  if  a  State,  for  other  than 
certain  specified  reasons,  should  limit  the  right  to 
vote  for  the  chief  officers  of  government,  state  and 
national,  then  the  right  of  such  a  State  to  repre- 
sentation in  the  lower  House  of  Congress  should  be 
diminished  in  like  proportion. 

The  Fifteenth  Amendment  removed  from  the  State 
the  power  to  deprive  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  of 
the  right  to  vote  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous 
condition  of  servitude. 

After  all  the  laws  and  all  the  amendments,  the 
States  remain  in  control  of  elections  and,  with  slight 
restrictions,  of  the  qualifications  for  suffrage.  It  is 
evident  that  the  Federal  Government  lacks  the  essen- 
tial organs  of  an  independent  state,  since  it  is  de- 
pendent for  the  election  of  its  own  officials  upon  the 
separate  States  which  supply  the  electoral  machinery. 

104 


STATE    PARTY   ORGANIZATION 


We  have,  then,  this  anomalous  condition  of  affairs : 
The  electoral  machinery  has  come  to  be  controlled  by 
national  party  organizations  formed  and  maintained 
chiefly  in  the  interest  of  Federal  issues,  while  the 
conduct  of  the  election  itself  is  a  state  function,  and 
the  great  body  of  the  officers  nominated  and  elected 
by  the  political  parties  attend  to  state  and  local  duties 
which  have  no  direct  connection  with  national  issues. 

A  State  may  fix  a  different  day  for  choosing  its  own 
officers  from  the  one  selected  by  Congress  for  electing 
presidential  electors  and  members  of  the  lower  House 
of  Congress,  and  some  of  them  have  done  so.  Yet 
even  then  the  same  party  organizations  manage  the 
business,  make  the  nominations,  and  conduct  the  cam- 
paign, and  the  tendency  is  rather  to  economize  time 
and  eft'ort  by  massing  the  elections  of  both  state  and 
Federal  officers  on  a  single  day.  This  makes  the  so- 
called  presidential  election  a  general  one  for  all  pur- 
poses. It  comes  only  once  in  four  years,  however, 
while  many  state  and  local  officers  serve  for  terms 
less  than  four  years  in  length,  and  representatives 
to  Congress  must  be  elected  every  two  years.  An  in- 
creasing number  of  the  States,  therefore,  provide  for 
biennial  elections  of  state  legislatures  and  of  the  im- 
portant state  and  local  officers,  and  by  making  the 
date  coincident  with  that  for  choosing  congressional 
representatives,  they  have  brought  about  the  result 
that  no  general  state  election  is  held  which  does  not 
also  involve  a  vote  for  congressmen. 

An  exception  to  this  general  rule  is  found  in  the 
filling  of  local  school  offices,  those  of  the  city,  and  the 
minor  places  in  tow^ns  and  villages.    Elections  to  these 

105 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

positions  are  very  generally  set  for  a  special  time, 
though  party  machinery  may  be  brought  into  play, 
and  is  almost  certain  to  be  in  a  city  election. 

Party  organization  presents  much  variety  in  the 
different  States.  It  may  be  said  in  a  general  way 
that  the  machinery  of  the  party  conforms  to  the  ma- 
chinery of  local  government  within  the  State.  In  New 
England,  for  example,  where  the  town  is  the  most 
important  unit  of  local  government,  the  town  also 
fills  an  important  place  in  party  organization.  In  the 
South,  the  county  is  the  chief  local  unit  in  the  or- 
ganization of  party  as  well  as  the  local  government. 
In  other  States  where  local  government  is  divided 
between  county,  township,  and  village,  there  are  usu- 
ally corresponding  party  organs.  This  is,  however, 
but  a  crude  and  imperfect  statement  of  fact.  Party 
organizations  exhibit  even  greater  variations  than  do 
the  local  governmental  institutions.  Party  organizers 
are  not  restricted  to  municipal  areas.  For  party 
reasons,  the  voting  precinct  usually  fills  an  important 
place  irrespective  of  its  relation  to  local  government. 
Congressional  districts  have  no  relation  to  anything 
governmental  in  the  State,  yet  in  most  States  they  are 
of  decided  consequence  in  state  party  organization. 
The  school  district,  as  a  local  government  unit,  stands 
for  a  non-partizan  function,  and  for  that  reason  one 
would  suppose  that  it  would  not  appear  as  a  unit  in  the 
organization  of  parties.  But  this  is  contrary  to  fact. 
The  school  district  is  often  found  a  convenient  area  for 
reaching  the  people,  and  the  ^ ' schoolhouse  campaign" 
has  filled  a  prominent  place  in  many  party  conflicts. 

The  diverse  forms  of  organization  in  the  different 

106 


STATE   PARTY   ORGANIZATION 


States  bear  testimony  to  their  independent  origin.    It 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  local  party  organs  are  ; 
older  than  national  party  committees.    The  interstate* 
convention  of  the  Republican  party  of  1856  was  called/ 
by  the  chairmen  of  nine  Republican  state  committees.  \ 
Party  organization  has  proceeded  from  the  voting  pre-  f 
cinct  to  the  nation  at  large,  and  not  from  the  Federal 
center  to  the  voting  precinct.     Members  of  the  na- 
tional committees  have  discussed  plans  for  enrolling 
and  organizing  all  the  party  supporters  in  the  country 
according  to  a  uniform  scheme;  but  uniformity  has 
never  yet  been  attained.    The  committees  have,  indeed, 
created   organs   for   their   own   purposes   in   all   the  I 
States ;  but  these  are  quite  distinct  from  the  regular 
permanent  state  and  local  organization. 

While  no  description  can  be  accurate  and  ample, 
and  at  the  same  time  applicable  to  more  than  one 
State,  there  are  two  or  three  important  characteristics 
of  party  organization  which  are  of  general  application. 
Each  of  the  two  parties  has  in  each  State  its  state 
committee,  called,  variously,  the  state  central  commit- 
tee, or  the  state  executive  committee,  w^hich  may  be 
composed  of  representatives  from  congressional  dis- 
tricts, or  representatives  from  counties  or  represen- 
tatives from  state  senatorial  districts,  or  a  number 
of  persons  named  by  the  chief  candidate  nominated 
at  the  state  convention.  The  fact  to  be  emphasized 
here  is  merely  that  in  each  State  a  state  party  com- 
mittee exists  and  fills  a  cardinal  place  in  the  general 
organization  of  the  party.  Outside  of  New  England, 
where  the  town  overshadows  the  county  in  local  or- 
ganization, an  almost  identical  statement  may  be  made 

107 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND   MACHINERY 

as  to  the  county  committee.  Though  constituted  in 
different  ways,  it  fills  a  uniformly  important  place. 

One  other  general  fact  is  worth  noticing.  The  two 
political  parties  in  a  given  State  are  likely  to  have 
practically  the  same  sort  of  organization.  This  is  by 
no  means  universal,  but  it  is  general.  The  two  parties 
in  a  State  learn  much  more  from  each  other  respecting 
the  outlines  of  effective  organization  than  they  learn 
from  their  party  associates  in  other  States. 

The  details  of  organization  in  the  several  States  are 
affected  by  the  relative  strength  of  the  two  parties. 
The  States  are  classed  as  doubtful,  or  close,  Repub- 
lican or  Democratic.  The  conditions  in  a  doubtful 
State,  such  as  New  York  or  Indiana,  tend  to  keep  the 
machinery  of  both  parties  alike  at  a  maximum  of  effi- 
ciency. Politics  here  fills  a  relatively  larger  place  in 
the  experience  of  a  citizen  than  in  other  States. 

States  classified  as  Democratic  are  those  south  of 
the  Mason  and  Dixon  line,  having  a  large  negro 
population.  Here  the  relations  of  parties  have  been 
affected  by  the  race  problem  and  by  conditions  and 
events  growing  out  of  the  War. 

The  States  uniformly  Republican  are  less  numerous 
than  the  Democratic  States.  Especially  are  there  few 
States  which  can  be  counted  upon  as  certainly  Republi- 
can at  state  and  local  elections.  In  all  of  the  so-called 
Republican  States,  the  Democratic  party  fulfils  its 
proper  function  by  threatening  to  defeat  its  rival 
through  the  advocacy  of  a  policy  more  acceptable  to 
the  voters. 

While  it  is  true  that  not  many  States  in  which  the 
parties  maintain  their  normal  relations  can  be  de- 
pended upon  to  vote  uniformly  with  one  party  or  the 

108 


STATE   PARTY    ORGANIZATION 


other,  it  is  also  true  that  the  voting  coustitueucies  nev- 
ertheless usually  develop  a  preponderating  preference 
for  one  party  or  the  other.  This  is  a  fact  of  great  in- 
terest to  the  student  of  politics.  The  peculiar  political 
preference  extends  even  to  counties,  cities,  wards, 
townships  and  voting  precincts.  Counties  and  town- 
ships come  to  be  known  as  Democratic  or  Republican, 
and  remain  such  without  any  apparently  decisive  rea- 
son for  year  after  year.  Sometimes  a  rural  township 
with  a  changing  population  and  in  a  county  strongly 
Republican  will  establish  and  long  maintain  a  reputa- 
tion as  safely  Democratic.  The  party  itself  becomes  in- 
stitutional. Republicans  who  for  forty  years  fight  a 
losing  battle  gain  among  their  fellows  honored  rec- 
ognition which  they  would  not  willingly  surrender. 
This  tendency  to  an  institutional  persistence  of  party 
in  a  given  locality  is  taken  account  of  by  skilful  party 
leaders.  They  deem  it  wise  economy  to  hold  the  dis- 
tricts already  secured  rather  than  to  gain  new  ones.  A 
district  held  gives  to  the  party  the  advantage  of  the 
conservative  force  of  habit.  A  district  won  over  by 
extraordinary  effort  is  likely  to  revert  to  its  former 
habit,  or  is  kept  in  line  by  continuous  effort. 

Another  condition  affecting  the  organization  of  the 
parties  in  the  different  States  is  the  presence  or  the 
absence  of  great  cities.  Cities  have  their  distinct  and 
peculiar  function  in  government,  and  they  require 
correspondingly  distinct  characteristics  in  party  ma- 
chinery. In  a  later  chapter,  party  organization  in 
cities  receives  special  treatment.  The  point  of  remark 
in  this  immediate  connection  is  that  the  general  party 
organization  of  the  State  is  affected  by  the  city.  In 
States  having  no  cities  with  a  population  of  more  than 

109 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

a  hundred  thousand,  the  modifying  influence  exerted 
upon  the  general  party  system  is  likely  to  be  slight. 
But  there  are  a  few  States,  such  as  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Illinois,  containing  cities  of  such  enor- 
mous proportions  as  to  effect  a  marked  change  in  the 
ordinary  working  of  the  state  party  machinery. 
Apart  from  the  city,  the  State  of  New  York  is  Repub- 
lican by  a  large  majority.  The  city  of  New  York  is 
Democratic  in  national  politics  by  a  corresponding 
majority,  so  that  the  State  as  a  whole  is  doubtful,  and 
party  conflicts  assume  the  characteristics  of  a  duel 
between  city  and  country.  This  exact  situation  is 
peculiar  to  a  single  State ;  yet  in  every  State  in  which 
a  considerable  proportion  of  the  population  resides  in 
one  city,  the  politics  of  that  city  has  a  decided  modify- 
ing effect  upon  the  politics  of  the  State. 

In  "The  American  Commonwealth"  Mr.  Bryee  criticizes  the 
American  practice  of  choosing  representatives  solely  from  the 
residents  of  the  districts  represented.  He  fails  to  appreciate  the 
grounds  of  the  American  citizen's  attachment  to  local  areas  and 
the  strength  of  the  sentiment.  The  controversy  over  the  control 
of  elections  in  the  South  throws  much  light  on  the  political  sig- 
nificance of  the  separate  States.  The  following  are  a  few  of  the 
many  references  which  might  be  given  : 

"  The  Force  Bill,"  by  E.  L.  Godkin.  Tlie  Nation,  Vol.  XH,  pp. 
268,  284. 

"Election  Laws,"  by  G.  "W.  McCrary.  North  American  Rerieic, 
Vol.  XXVIII,  p.  450. 

"Federal  Control  of  Elections,"  by  T.  B.  Reed.  North  Amer- 
ican Review,  Vol.  CL,  p.  671. 

J.  T.  Morgan,  The  Forum,  Vol.  X,  p.  23. 

W.  E.  Chandler,  Tlie  Forum,  Vol.  IX,  p.  705. 

T.  V.  Powderly,  North  American  Review,  Vol.  CLI,  p.  266. 

H.  C.  Lodge,  North  American  Revieic,  Vol.  CLI,  p.  257. 

Many  speeches  on  the  subject  in  Congressional  Records. 

110 


CHAPTER  IX 

PARTY  ORGANIZATION   IN   A  REPUBLICAN  STATE— 
PENNSYLVANIA 

Among  the  States  classified  as  safely  Republican  at 
national  elections,  political  conditions  differ  widely, 
as  does  also  the  development  and  efficiency  of  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  parties.  A  special  study  is  here  given 
of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  as  that  in  which  the 
organization  of  the  Republican  party  is  perhaps  the 
most  perfect  and  complete. 

Pennsylvania  is  a  State  in  which  party  organization 
is  profoundly  affected  by  the  presence  of  large  cities ; 
it  is  a  State  in  which  the  county  holds  an  important 
place  both  in  local  government,  and,  in  respect  to  party 
machinery,  it  is  a  state  which,  more  than  any  other,  has 
given  strong  and  unchanging  support  to  the  policy  of 
protection.  At  a  time  when  the  Democratic  party 
was  understood  to  stand  for  free  trade,  or  at  least  for 
a  more  liberal  tariff  policy,  the  Democrats  of  Pennsyl- 
vania sent  men  to  Congress  who  refused  to  support 
the  position  of  their  party.  This  has  tended  to  weaken 
the  party  of  the  minority  in  the  State,  and  it  has  come 
about  as  a  result  of  this  and  of  many  other  potent 
influences  that  Pennsylvania  has  become  subject  to  the 
control    of   one    party,    thoroughly    organized,    fully 

111 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   AND  MACHINERY 

equipped,  and  irresistibly  effective  in  every  county, 
city,  and  borough.  In  the  Republican  party  of  that 
State  is  seen  an  organization  the  strongest,  the  most 
enduring,  the  most  efficient  of  any  similar  organiza- 
tions for  an  entire  State  in  the  whole  Union. 

This  state  organization  has  been  in  successful  op- 
eration long  enough  to  have  established  an  authorita- 
tive body  of  rules  and  precedents  for  the  guidance  of 
the  party.  Definite  printed  regulations  direct  the 
course  of  action  in  the  State  and  the  numerous  sub- 
ordinate divisions  established  by  party  authority. 
Some  of  these  have  been  in  force  for  many  years.  Take, 
for  example,  section  ix  of  the  Rules  of  the  Repub- 
lican Party  for  Lancaster  County,  which  reads:  ''At 
the  nominating  election  in  1868  and  annually  there- 
after one  person  shall  be  elected  by  ballot  from  each 
district  to  serve  on  the  county  committee."  Here  is 
a  bit  of  party  legislation  enacted  thirty-six  years  ago 
and  still  in  force.  The  rules  for  Franklin  County 
were  adopted  in  1879  and  have  been  amended  as  re- 
cently as  1902. 

Rules  for  the  guidance  of  party  conduct  in  the 
various  counties  are  often  very  elaborate  and  detailed. 
In  some  cases  they  fill  thirty  or  more  closely  printed 
pages.  But  those  now  controlling  the  organization  for 
the  State  at  large  are  a  model  of  brevity.  They  were 
adopted  by  the  state  convention  held  at  Harrisburg, 
August  24,  1899,  and  number  only  seven.  Since  they 
are  so  few  we  may  examine  them  all  here. 

Rule  I.  provides  that  the  chairman  of  the  Republi- 
can state  committee  shall  be  elected  by  the  candidates 
nominated  at  the  state  convention  and  the  permanent 

112 


REPUBLICAN   ORGANIZATION  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

chairman  thereof.  In  case  of  vacancy  in  the  chair- 
manship before  the  election  following  the  convention, 
the  same  rule  requires  that  it  shall  be  filled  by  the 
candidates  and  the  chairman  of  the  convention ;  but 
should  the  vacancy  occur  after  the  election,  it  becomes 
the  duty  of  the  secretaries  of  the  state  committee  to 
call  a  meeting  to  elect  a  chairman. 

Rule  II.  requires  that  the  state  committee  shall  be 
elected  by  the  delegates  from  the  senatorial  districts 
in  attendance  at  the  state  convention.  Each  senatorial 
district  is  entitled  to  at  least  two  members  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  where  a  district  consists  of  more  than  one 
county,  each  county  is  entitled  to  a  member  of  the 
state  committee.  The  chairman  of  the  state  commit- 
tee is  also  given  power  to  name  twelve  members-at- 
large  of  the  committee,  who  shall  have  equal  voice  with 
those  chosen  by  senatorial  districts  in  the  manage- 
ment of  party  affairs.  The  effect  of  the  second  rule 
is  to  create  a  large  committee  of  a  hundred  and  twenty 
or  more  members.  The  committee  rarely  meets  as  a 
whole,  and  its  chairman  is  the  active  manager  of  the 
affairs  of  the  party. 

Rule  III.  makes  it  the  duty  of  the  state  committee 
to  call  the  state  convention,  and  requires  that  at  least 
sixty  days'  notice  shall  be  given  of  the  date  of  the 
meeting. 

Rule  IV.  merely  provides  that  delegates  to  the  state 
convention  shall  be  chosen  in  the  manner  in  which 
candidates  for  the  general  assembly  are  nominated, 
or  in  accordance  with  the  party  rules  in  force  in  the 
respective  counties. 

Rule  V.  bases  representation  in  the  state  convention 
8  113 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

upon  the  vote  cast  at  the  preceding  presidential 
election,  allotting  to  each  legislative  district  one  dele- 
gate for  each  two  thousand  Republican  votes,  and  an 
additional  delegate  for  a  fraction  larger  than  one  half 
of  that  number. 

Rule  VI.  empowers  the  state  committee  to  fill  vacan- 
cies on  the  state  ticket  caused  by  death  or  resignation, 
and  also  to  place  in  nomination  a  candidate  to  fill  any 
vacancy  in  a  state  office  to  be  voted  for  at  the  next 
ensuing  election,  which  may  occur  after  the  meeting 
of  the  state  convention. 

Rule  VII.,  and  the  last,  provides  that  in  case  of  the 
failure  of  the  delegates  to  any  congressional,  senato- 
rial, or  judicial  district  convention  to  agree  upon  the 
nomination  of  a  candidate  for  the  office  to  be  filled 
fifty-five  days  before  the  general  election,  the  chairman 
of  the  state  committee  shall  appoint  one  representative 
Republican  from  each  county  in  the  district,  who  shall 
become  a  part  of  the  original  nominating  body  and 
shall  have  the  same  voice  in  the  deliberations  as  the 
original  members.  If  even  then  agreement  is  not 
reached  within  five  days,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the 
chairman  of  the  state  committee  to  select  a  represen- 
tative Republican  in  the  district,  who  shall  act  as  um- 
pire, or  referee,  in  making  a  nomination. 

These  rules  make  it  clear  that  the  county  occupies 
an  important  place  in  the  party  organization  of  Penn- 
sylvania. The  senatorial  districts  which  choose  the 
members  of  the  state  committee  consist  of  single 
counties  or  a  union  of  counties  or  of  areas  in  large 
cities;  and  the  rule  requires  that  each  county  shall 
have  at  least  one  member  on  the  state  committee.    The 

114 


REPUBLICAN  ORGANIZATION   IN   PENNSYLVANIA 

legislative  districts  which  furnish  the  basis  for  repre- 
sentation in  the  state  convention  are  either  counties  or 
subdivisions  of  counties  or  areas  in  large  cities.  The 
procedure  for  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  the 
general  assembly  is  subject  to  the  control  of  the  coun- 
ties. Rule  IV.,  therefore,  which  ordains  that  delegates 
to  the  state  convention  shall  be  chosen  in  the  same 
manner,  unless  the  party  in  the  county  prescribes  a 
different  course,  places  the  whole  matter  in  the  hands 
of  the  county. 

Each  county  has  its  own  independent  party  organi- 
zation, and  the  marks  of  similarity  found  in  all  do  not 
prevent  the  appearance  of  many  differences  in  matters 
of  detail.  There  is  no  uniform  style  for  the  name  of 
the  county  committee.  In  the  printed  rules  for  some 
counties  the  form  is,  ''Republican  County  Commit- 
tee," following  that  adopted  by  the  state  convention 
for  the  ''Republican  State  Committee."  Other  coun- 
ties have  a  "County  Executive  Committee,"  and 
others  still  a  "Republican  County  Standing  Com- 
mittee. '  ^ 

The  county  committee  is  likewise  variously  consti- 
tuted. It  may  consist  of  representatives  from  town- 
ships and  wards,  or  from  precincts  and  wards,  or  from 
electoral  districts,  though  these  different  terms  gener- 
ally designate  the  same  or  similar  areas  in  the  different 
counties.  In  some  counties,  however,  the  rules  pre- 
scribe for  each  district,  of  whatever  name,  equal  repre- 
sentation on  the  county  committee,  while  in  others  the 
number  varies  in  the  different  districts.  The  Republi- 
can county  committee  for  Blair  County  was  composed, 
in  1902,  of  two,  three,  or  four  members  from  each 

115 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

precinct— one  hundred  and  forty-eight  in  all.  Some 
county  rules  designate  a  definite  number  of  members, 
but  the  number  varies  in  the  different  counties.  Some 
require  one  from  each  subordinate  area ;  others,  two. 

There  is  also  variety  in  the  methods  of  selecting  the 
members  of  the  county  committee.  The  rule  for  Lan- 
caster County,  already  quoted,  requires  the  election  by 
ballot  of  one  committeeman  in  each  district.  Other 
counties  provide  in  elaborate  detail  for  the  choosing  of 
their  committeemen  at  a  primary  election.^  In  others 
still,  the  rules  as  explicitly  require  that  the  members  of 
the  county  committee  shall  be  chosen  at  the  annual 
county  nominating  convention  by  the  delegates  in  at- 
tendance from  the  several  precincts  and  wards. 

The  term  of  office  for  a  committeeman  is  in  some 
cases  fixed  at  one  year,  and  in  others  at  two  years. 

All  these  facts  show  not  only  the  prominence  of  the 
county  in  party  organization,  but  also  the  independent 
origin  of  that  organization  in  the  different  counties. 

In  all  of  the  counties  the  committee  is  large.  Whe- 
ther there  be  one  member  or  four  from  each  voting 
precinct,  the  committee  is  too  large  and  too  widely 
distributed  to  be  relied  upon  to  attend  as  a  body  to  the 
details  of  party  management.  The  same  thing  is  true 
of  the  state  committee,  with  its  more  than  one  hundred 
members  from  the  sixty-seven  counties  of  the  State. 
In  some  cases,  the  county  committee  is  as  large  as  the 
state  committee,  and,  so  far  as  the  conduct  of  the 
ordinary  party  business  is  concerned,  it  is  the  chair- 
man of  either  committee  who  is  the  active  and  effec- 
tive party  agent.    As  has  been  mentioned,  the  chair- 

1  Lehigh  County  Rules,  1901. 
116 


REPUBLICAN  ORGANIZATION  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

man  of  the  state  committee  is  selected  by  the  perma- 
nent chairman  of  the  state  convention,  acting  with  the 
candidates  nominated  at  the  state  convention.  He  is, 
therefore,  frankly  the  appointee  of  the  candidates  for 
office  who  have  just  succeeded  in  winning  the  approval 
of  a  majority  in  the  state  convention.  In  some  of  the 
counties,  a  similar  rule  dictates  the  manner  of  selecting 
the  chairman  of  the  county  committee  (Perry  County). 
Generally,  however,  the  county  chairman  is  named  by 
the  county  convention.  In  certain  cases,  the  choice  of 
this  officer  is  guarded  by  special  and  stringent  regula- 
tions. In  a  few  counties,  he  is  elected  by  vote  at  a  pri- 
mary election,  which  elects  delegates  to  the  county 
convention.  But,  however  chosen,  the  chairman  is  the 
important  party  agent  for  the  county.  Individual 
members  of  the  committee  may,  indeed,  be  active  and 
energetic  local  party  officers  in  their  own  precincts; 
but  the  committee,  as  a  whole,  if  it  may  be  said  to  act 
at  all,  acts  through  its  chairman.  When  called  to- 
gether, it  is  usually  to  give  legal  effect  to  conclusions 
already  reached  by  the  chairman. 

So  far  as  the  authoritative,  formal  organization  of 
the  party  is  involved,  it  is  comprehended  almost  wholly 
in  the  county  and  state  conventions  and  the  county 
and  state  committees.  The  county  convention  legis- 
lates for  the  party  in  the  county,  and  a  large  amount 
of  activity  is  represented  by  the  abundant  and  varied 
constitutions,  rules,  and  by-laws,  enacted  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  party.  These  evince  an  apparent  desire 
on  the  part  of  the  legislators  to  insure  popular  control 
of  the  party.  There  are  stringent  rules  against  brib- 
ery; the  laws  of  the   State  for  the  punishment  of 

117 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

fraud  at  elections  are  printed  in  official  party  leaflets ; 
party  rules  prescribe  an  oath  to  be  taken  by  the  offi- 
cials in  charge  of  primary  elections.  Increased  power 
is  given  to  the  rank  and  file  of  the  party  at  primary 
elections.  In  some  cases,  the  delegates  to  the  state 
convention  are  chosen  by  general  vote  at  such  an  elec- 
tion. 

Legislation  by  the  state  convention  in  no  way  in- 
terferes with  the  rules  adopted  by  the  county.  By 
a  single  act  (Rule  VII.  given  above),  the  state  com- 
mittee is  empowered  in  case  of  a  deadlock  in  the  nomi- 
nating machinery  of  a  congressional,  a  judicial,  or  a 
senatorial  district,  to  first  render  aid  and  then  to  assert 
authority;  but  there  is  nowhere  any  suggestion  of 
meddling  with  the  party  organization  of  a  county. 

Congressional  and  judicial  districts  have  practically 
no  party  organization.  Provision  is  made  for  making 
nominations  either  by  primary  election  or  by  delegate 
convention ;  but  there  are  no  committees  or  permanent 
officers  who  have  any  voice  in  the  management  of  the 
party.  The  state  and  county  committees,  therefore, 
have  full  charge  of  party  affairs.  They  raise  the 
money  for  all  expenses  and  conduct  the  campaigns  for 
the  election  of  all  candidates,  local,  state,  and  Federal. 
One  exception  appears  in  a  single  congressional  district 
where  a  district  committee  participates  in  the  election 
of  representatives  to  Congress.  In  all  other  districts 
the  state  and  county  committees  have  sole  charge. 

To  understand  a  party  organization,  it  is  not  suffi- 
cient simply  to  take  account  of  the  conventions  which 
enact  party  rules,  and  the  permanent  committees  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  execution  of  those  rules.    More  sig- 

118 


REPUBLICAN  ORGANIZATION  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

nificant  than  the  details  of  the  laws  laid  down  for  the 
government  of  the  party  are  the  habits  and  acts  of 
those  who  do  the  party  work. 

The  active,  authorized  agents  of  the  Republican 
party  in  Pennsylvania  are,  as  has  been  shown,  the 
chairmen  of  state  and  county  committees.  It  is  they 
and  those  whom  they  appoint  or  employ  who  do  the 
important  party  work. 

The  second  rule  of  the  state  convention  makes  it 
the  duty  of  the  chairman  of  the  state  committee  to 
appoint  twelve  members  of  that  committee.  The  rules 
do  not  assign  to  the  twelve  members  thus  selected  any 
duties  distinguished  from  those  of  the  other  members 
of  the  great  committee ;  yet  it  is  reasonable  to  assume 
that  these  men  would  be  notable  for  their  efficiency  in 
cooperating  with  the  chairman  who  has  chosen  them. 
The  effective  centralization  of  power  in  the  hands 
of  the  chairman  of  the  state  committee  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  features  of  the  present  phase  of  party 
development  in  the  United  States,  and  this  is  nowhere 
better  illustrated  than  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  twelve  members  of  the  state  committee  chosen 
by  the  chairman  may  be  assumed  to  be  men  in  full 
sympathy  wdth  the  views  and  aims  of  their  chairman. 
The  hundreds  and  thousands  of  members  of  state  and 
county  committees,  in  so  far  as  they  do  party  work  at 
all,  do  it  in  cooperation  with  the  forces  directed  by  the 
state  and  county  chairmen.  But  the  chairman  of  the 
state  committee  is  by  no  means  limited  to  this  army 
of  party  assistants  selected  in  such  diverse  ways.  He 
has  also  vigilance  committees  and  aids  innumerable, 
appointed  by  state  or  county  chairmen. 

119 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

The  action  of  the  responsible  party  officers  is  based 
upon  exact  and  definite  knowledge.  In  the  office  of  the 
secretaries  of  the  state  committee  is  a  carefully  pre- 
pared list  of  more  than  eight  hundred  thousand  names 
of  Republican  voters  in  the  State.  These  names  are 
classified  as,  habitual  and  reliable  supporters  of  the 
party  ticket,  doubtful  or  wavering  supporters,  and 
those  accustomed  to  "fumble  in  the  booth."  Persons 
who  may  be  relied  upon  to  do  effective  party  work  are 
also  known.  Special  attention  is  given  to  first  voters 
and  those  expecting  soon  to  vote.  Party  supporters 
from  families  allied  with  the  opposite  party  are 
pointed  out.  The  entire  body  of  party  voters,  and 
probable  or  potential  party  supporters,  is  subject  to 
the  informal  but  effective  organization  created  and 
directed  by  the  secretary  of  the  state  committee. 

Before  the  public  it  is  the  chairman  of  the  state 
committee  who  is  credited  with  the  organizing  and 
directing  of  the  great  party  machine.  But  the  chair- 
man is  a  United  States  senator,  with  many  other  ab- 
sorbing and  distracting  duties.  The  man  who  creates 
the  intricate  and  delicate  enginery,  and  controls  its 
operation,  can  do  nothing  else.  He  must  give  himself 
to  his  exacting  task  to  the  almost  utter  exclusion  of 
other  interests.  The  present  secretary  (1904)  has  for 
nine  years  had  this  business  in  his  hand.  He  is,  in 
the  first  place,  a  man  of  unlimited  capacity  for  work. 
To  the  service  of  his  party  he  sacrifices  all  amuse- 
ment, all  social  diversion,  and  gives  his  undivided  at- 
tention, year  in  and  year  out,  to  the  labors  of  his 
responsible  position. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  concerning  the 

120 


REPTTRLTCAN  ORGANTZATTON  TN   PENNSYLVANIA 

important  work  of  the  campaign  committees  during  an 
excited  presidential  election.  But  the  Republican 
managers  in  Pennsylvania  place  more  reliance  upon 
the  continued  and  constant  use  of  the  party  organs 
and  agencies  at  all  times,  in  ''off"  years  as  well  as 
during  the  quadrennial  contests.  When  no  election 
is  pending,  the  machine  is  still  kept  in  running  order. 
Only  thus,  it  is  believed,  can  results  be  made  sure 
when  important  exigencies  arise. 

It  is  customary  for  repeated  canvasses  of  the  voters 
of  a  State  to  be  made  during  a  presidential  campaign, 
under  the  direction  of  party  managers,  in  order  to  as- 
certain with  accuracy  the  party  prospects  and  the 
trend  of  changes  in  political  opinion.  An  organization 
capable  of  carrying  out  an  enterprise  of  that  sort 
among  more  than  a  million  voters  is  not  the  creation 
of  a  day.  It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  find  out  defi- 
nitely how  a  million  men  will  vote  at  a  free  election 
some  distance  in  the  future.  The  undertaking  involves 
minute  and  careful  subdivision  of  labor  among  trained 
and  skilled  agents.  When  the  party  machine  is  placed 
at  its  highest  level  of  efficiency,  as  it  is  during  a  heated 
campaign,  every  tenth  or  even  every  fifth  man  in  the 
party  is  given  an  official  position.  He  becomes  a  party 
watcher,  whose  especial  duty  it  is  to  learn  the  exact 
political  opinions  and  intentions  of  the  few  voters 
assigned  to  his  observation.  He  notes  their  conduct, 
listens  to  their  conversation,  discovers  among  them  any 
who  are  disaffected,  takes  account  of  the  particular 
sorts  of  influence  and  sources  of  influence  to  which 
these  individuals  are  especially  susceptible,  and 
brings  them  to  bear  upon  doubtful  or  opposing  voters. 

121 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

All  the  various  facts  of  party  interest  the  watcher 
reports  to  his  superior  officers,  and  such  measures  are 
taken,  in  view  of  this  information,  as  their  wisdom 
and  experience  dictate.  A  certain  college  professor, 
who  was  known  to  be  disaffected  toward  the  head  of 
a  party  ticket  in  a  presidential  campaign,  received  a 
letter  from  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  a  friend  of  his 
family,  living  in  a  remote  part  of  the  country,  giving 
reasons  why,  on  this  particular  occasion,  it  would  be 
better  to  vote  for  the  party  candidate.  It  is  believed 
that  this  letter  was  due  to  the  report  of  the  party 
captain  of  ten,  or  captain  of  five,  who  had  been  set 
to  watch  over  the  professor  for  the  good  of  the  party 
through  the  trying  ordeal  of  the  campaign. 

The  question  inevitably  arises,  why  does  Pennsyl- 
vania, better  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  fur- 
nish an  illustration  of  complete  and  effective  party 
organization  1  It  is  a  question  more  easily  asked  than 
answered.  Probably  no  full  or  satisfying  answer  can 
yet  b'e  given,  and  only  a  few  suggestions  for  thought 
and  study  will  be  attempted  here. 

The  enormous  mining  and  manufacturing  interests 
of  the  State  have  tended  to  build  up  a  decided  pro- 
tective sentiment,  with  a  natural  leaning  tow^ard  the 
party  championing  a  protective  policy.  The  failure 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Democrats,  at  a  critical  time  in 
the  history  of  tariff  discussion,  to  give  support  to  the 
declared  Democratic  policy  in  Congress,  had  the  effect 
to  weaken  and  discredit  that  party  in  the  State  and, 
at  the  same  time,  to  clear  the  field  for  its  political 
opponent.  The  State  is  old  and  rich,  and  being  of  a 
conservative  temperament,  has  been  subject  to  com- 

122 


REPUBLICAN  ORGANIZATION  IN   PENNSYLVANIA 


paratively  few  changes.  All  this  is  favorable  to  the 
growth  of  a  uniformly  strong  state  organization. 
Because  the  State  is  opulent,  and  because  so  much  of 
its  wealth  is  so  plainly  dependent  upon  congressional 
legislation  for  its  existence  or  for  its  continuance  in 
the  hands  of  its  present  owners,  it  is  easy  for  the  party 
devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  the  policy  of  protection 
to  secure  an  abounding  campaign  fund. 

There  are,  besides,  large  metropolitan  areas  within 
the  State  having  immense  franchise-values  dependent 
upon  legislation,  and  the  same  party  has  succeeded 
in  controlling  both  city  and  country.  Here  again 
is  a  basis  for  a  liberal  support  to  the  party  treasury. 
In  all  the  States,  Federal  patronage  is  a  considerable 
factor  in  determining  the  particular  type  of  organiza- 
tion of  the  party  in  power,  and  the  Federal  patronage 
of  Pennsylvania  is  second  only  to  that  of  New  York. 
The  patronage  of  the  great  port  of  Philadelphia  has 
long  been  a  Republican  asset  of  much  importance. 

The  popular  method  of  accounting  for  the  remark- 
able Republican  organization  of  Pennsylvania  is  by 
naming  a  succession  of  senatorial  leaders  in  Congress, 
whose  dominance  covers  the  space  of  three  generations 
of  men,  and  attributing  the  peculiar  party  conditions 
to  their  personal  characters  and  conduct.  But  history 
is  not  so  made.  It  Avould  be  much  nearer  the  truth 
to  say  that  the  unique  political,  industrial,  and  social 
conditions  in  the  State  called  into  prominence  the 
succession  of  peculiarly  talented  senatorial  leaders, 
than  to  attribute  to  them  the  creation,  out  of  hand,  of 
the  political  conditions.  The  Republican  party  of 
Pennsylvania  does  indeed  furnish  a  striking  example 

123 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

of  the  effective  senatorial  leadership  discussed  in  a 
previous  chapter ;  but  it  is  not  to  the  senators  that  are 
to  be  ascribed  the  unusual  circumstances  which  have 
stamped,  in  such  a  peculiar  manner,  the  results 
achieved. 

A  few  facts  connected  with  the  problem  stand  out 
so  prominently  as  to  obscure  all  others.  A  large  fund 
from  protected  interests;  another  large  fund  from 
franchise  values  in  cities;  a  large  addition  to  party 
means  from  rich  or  well-to-do  candidates,  who  are  will- 
ing to  contribute  liberally  for  the  honor  of  high  office 
in  State  or  Nation;  perhaps  a  still  larger  sum  col- 
lected from  the  great  multitude  of  candidates  for  the 
minor  offices  in  county,  city,  and  village;  then,  the 
disposal  of  the  Federal  positions,  adding  both  money 
and  influence  for  the  use  of  party  managers.  All  these 
are  matters  easily  grasped  and  understood.  There  is 
likewise  general  agreement  that  both  in  city  and  coun- 
try there  are  purchasable  votes,  and  votes  which  are 
usually  purchased.  What  more  is  required  to  account 
for  the  Avhole  situation? 

But  these  conceded  facts  do  not,  after  all,  throw  any 
light  upon  that  which  really  needs  explanation.  They 
may  help  to  account  for  the  conduct  of  the  few  who  are 
classed  as  bribe-givers  and  bribe-takers,  and  for  that  of 
the  great  corporations  whose  contributions  fill  the 
party  treasury.  Men  having  large  financial  interests  at 
stake  in  business  which  may  be  ruined  by  an  act  of  the 
Government  will  naturally  discover  convincing  rea- 
sons for  making  liberal  contributions  to  a  political 
party  whose  success  at  the  polls  will  insure  their 
safety.  And  in  the  disbursing  of  party  funds  from 
such  sources,  all  the  world  knows  that  money  is  paid 

124 


REPUBLICAN  ORGANIZATION  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

for  the  purchase  of  votes  at  the  poUiug  booths.  De- 
plorable as  this  undeniably  is,  there  is  no  obscurity 
about  it ;  all  is  simple  and  clear ;  no  elaborate  explana- 
tion is  required.  There  are,  however,  relatively  few 
men  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  who,  conscious  of 
danger  to  their  business  and  with  a  definite  intention 
of  insuring  their  own  financial  security,  make  dona- 
tions to  party  funds.  However  large  the  number  may 
be  in  the  aggregate,  in  proportion  to  the  great  body  of 
business  men  who  act  from  no  such  motives,  it  is  small. 
So,  in  proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  voters,  they 
are  but  few  whose  votes  are  purchasable  or  are  pur- 
chased. Though  sinister  motives  of  one  sort  or  another 
were  conceded  to  influence  the  conduct  of,  say,  one 
tenth  of  the  citizens  of  the  State,  they  do  not  explain 
the  conduct  of  the  nine  tenths. 

Among  the  things  really  demanding  explanation  is 
the  fact  that,  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said 
concerning  party  abuses  and  party  corruption,  the 
great  body  of  moral,  upright,  and  intelligent  members 
of  the  party  have  given  and  continue  to  give  to  it  their 
faithful  and  loyal  support.  They  have  not  been 
bribed ;  in  no  ordinary  sense  of  the  term  have  they  in 
any  way  been  corrupted.  While  the  Republican  party 
of  Pennsylvania  is  exceptional  in  respect  to  the  large 
amount  of  money  it  has  received  which  admits  of  being 
attributed  to  interested  motives,  the  same  party  has 
always  been  the  recipient  of  money  and,  much  more, 
of  the  time  and  pains  and  personal  service  of  its 
members,  none  of  which  admits  of  such  explanation. 
Without  the  persistent  and  faithful  support  of  this 
large  body  of  worthy,  intelligent,  and  patriotic  cit- 
izens, who,  without  hope  of  office  or  of  private  gain, 

125 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

have  been  willing  to  make  unstinted  sacrifice  of  time 
and  effort  and  money  in  the  service  of  the  party,  no 
such  mighty  organization  as  now  exists  would  have 
grown  up.  This  condition  it  is,  or  rather  the  coexist- 
ence of  two  sets  of  conditions  which  appear  to  be  con- 
tradictory and  mutually  exclusive,  that  calls  for  expla- 
nation. 

Study  of  the  party  system  and  the  party  organiza- 
tion more  thoroughgoing  and  comprehensive  than  has 
yet  been  undertaken,  and  by  a  large  number  of  careful 
students  and  observers,  must  precede  any  adequate 
solution  of  the  questions  here  suggested.  The  psychol- 
ogy of  the  political  party,  a  psychology  peculiar  to 
itself,  has  not  yet  been  fathomed.  The  remarkable 
action  and  interaction  of  the  minds  of  the  individual 
members  upon  the  organic  institution,  and  of  the  or- 
ganic institution  back  upon  the  mind  of  the  individual, 
call  for  investigation.  Until  the  institutional  charac- 
teristics of  the  party  are  clearly  recognized,  and  at 
least  until  there  shall  have  been  a  serious  wide-spread, 
and  sustained  effort  at  investigation,  the  inherent 
properties  of  the  political  party  and  its  essential  phe- 
nomena must  remain  a  mystery. 

The  following  are  among  the  chief  sources  of  information  on 
state  party  organization : 

1.  Direct  information  from  party  managers. 

2.  Printed  rules  of  party  committees. 

3.  Laws  regulating  the  process  of  nomination ;  primary  elec- 
tion laws. 

4.  Published  proceedings  of  party  conventions. 

5.  In  some  of  the  States  there  are  outlines  of  party  history 
with  texts  of  state  platforms  of  the  different  parties. 

In  Pennsylvania  the  rules  adopted  by  state  and  county  con- 
ventions and  printed  by  the  party  committees  are  unusually  full. 

126 


CHAPTER  X 

DEMOCRATIC  PARTY  ORGANIZATION  IN  PENNSYLVANIA 

Against  the  powerful  and  successful  Republican 
party  of  Pennsylvania  is  pitted  the  Democratic  party, 
which  has  had  a  continuous,  organized  existence 
much  longer  than  its  great  rival.  Indeed,  it  was  al- 
ready venerable  when  the  Republican  party  was 
formed,  and  its  independent  development  under  quite 
different  circumstances  and  conditions  makes  the 
study  of  its  present  organization  instructive  and  val- 
uable. 

A  mere  comparison  of  the  printed  rules  of  the  two 
parties  is  fitted  to  convey  the  impression  that  the 
Democratic  organization  is  more  centralized,  more 
rigid,  and  more  thorough  than  the  Republican.  A 
booklet  of  something  over  thirty  pages  is  required  to 
contain  the  regulations  adopted  by  the  state  Demo- 
cratic convention  of  1893,  with  the  amendments  added 
since.  There  are  thirteen  rules,  some  of  which  are 
divided  into  seven  or  eight  sections.  The  first  of  these 
gives  the  component  parts  of  the  organization.  It 
consists  of  the  following  bodies:  Democratic  county 
committees ;  Democratic  division  committees ;  the  Dem- 
ocratic state  executive  committee ;  the  Democratic  state 

127 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

central  committee ;  the  Democratic  state  convention. 
These  are  the  parts  of  the  state  party  organization. 

The  county  committees  are  mentioned  as  belong- 
ing to  the  state  organism.  The  choice  of  members 
of  county  committees  is  left  to  the  Democratic  electors 
of  the  several  counties,  but  in  many  ways  the  county 
committees  are  subject  to  state  rules.  The  term  of  of- 
fice of  committeemen  begins  on  the  first  Monday  in 
April  of  each  year;  the  state  executive  committee  is  re- 
quired to  examine  the  rules  adopted  by  the  county 
committees,  and  may  either  approve  them  or  "direct 
such  changes  as  may  appear  necessary  or  expedient," 
and  no  county  is  allowed  representation  in  the  state 
convention  or  on  the  state  committee  until  the  direc- 
tions of  the  state  executive  committee  have  been  com- 
plied with.  In  case  of  a  dispute  over  the  election  of  a 
county  chairman,  the  executive  committee  of  the  State 
is  made  a  court  for  its  settlement.  The  same  committee 
is  also  a  court  of  appeal  in  disputes  arising  as  to  the 
elections  of  other  members  of  local  committees. 

For  purposes  of  party  organization,  the  State  is  par- 
titioned into  nine  divisions,  and  in  each  of  these  divi- 
sions the  chairmen  of  the  county  committees,  with  ad- 
ditional members  from  the  more  populous  counties, 
constitute  a  division  committee.  This  committee  is 
required  by  state  rules  to  meet  in  April  of  each  year 
and  organize  by  electing  a  chairman  and  two  secre- 
taries. The  chairmen  of  the  nine  division  committees, 
together  with  the  chairman  and  secretaries  of  the  state 
central  committee,  constitute  the  state  executive  com- 
mittee ;  and  the  chairman  and  secretaries  of  the  central 
committee  are  made  chairman  and  secretaries  of  the 

128 


DEMOCRATIC    PARTY  IN    PENNSYLVANIA 

executive  committee.  It  appears,  then,  that  the  state 
executive  committee  is  composd  entirely  of  ex  officio 
members  taken  from  other  committees. 

The  state  central  committee  is  composed  of  the 
chairmen  of  the  county  committees  in  the  State,  to- 
gether with  additional  members  from  counties  which, 
at  the  preceding  presidential  election,  had  cast  more 
than  one  thousand  Democratic  votes.  It  is  required 
to  meet  on  the  Wednesday  following  the  third  Monday 
in  April  and  elect  a  chairman  for  the  ensuing  year. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  chairman  thus  elected,  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  state  executive  committee, 
to  conduct  the  state  campaigns,  subject  to  the  ap- 
proval of  the  state  central  committee.  All  commit- 
tees are  therefore  "subordinate  to  and  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Democratic  state  central  committee." 

The  fifth  element  of  party  organization  mentioned 
in  the  rules  is  the  state  convention,  for  whose  annual 
calling  and  holding  elaborate  provision  is  made,  with 
special  rules  for  the  presidential  year.  It  is  the  seat 
of  supreme  authority  in  the  state  organization. 

Stated  in  reverse  order,  there  is,  first,  the  state  con- 
vention, the  highest  source  of  party  authority,  which 
enacts  rules  for  the  control  of  all  the  committees. 
When  the  convention  is  not  in  session  the  state  central 
committee  holds  the  place  of  chief  authority.  The 
state  executive  committee,  according  to  the  rules,  has 
merely  advisory  powers ;  yet  it  is  assigned  very  definite 
authority  over  the  county  committees.  No  specific 
duties  are  assigned  to  the  division  committees.  They 
are  merely  sections  of  the  state  central  committee, 
which  meet  and  elect  a  chairman,  and  the  chairman 
9  129 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   AND  MACHINERY 

thus  elected  serves  as  a  member  of  the  state  executive 
committee.  The  county  committees  are  directly  con- 
nected with  the  state  organization,  since  the  state  cen- 
tral committee  is  composed  mainly  of  the  chairmen  of 
the  county  committees. 

The  striking  thing  about  this  organization  is  that 
there  are  so  many  different  committees  made  up  of 
the  same  persons.  The  Democrats  of  each  county 
elect  a  county  committee.  The  chairman  of  this  com- 
mittee is  ex  officio  a  member  of  the  state  central 
committee.  This  committee  is  enlarged  by  the  ad- 
dition of  members  chosen  from  the  most  populous 
counties  in  such  manner  as  the  county  committees 
in  those  counties  may  determine.  This  gives  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  state  central  committee.  In  each  of  the 
nine  divisions  of  the  State  the  same  persons  who  be- 
long to  the  central  committee  are  made  members  of 
the  division  committee.  When  the  division  commit- 
tees meet,  however,  to  elect  a  chairman,  they  may  go 
outside  their  own  number,  and  the  chairman  thus 
chosen  becomes  a  member  of  the  state  executive 
committee.  The  chairman  of  the  state  central  com- 
mittee may,  in  like  manner,  be  chosen  from  outside  the 
membership  of  the  committee. 

Various  resemblances  and  many  differences  also 
may  be  noted  in  the  two  party  organizations.  It  will 
be  observed  that  in  both  the  county  is  prominent, 
each  county  being  insured  representation  upon  the 
state  committees.  Each  party  has  a  large  state  com- 
mittee, too  large  to  meet  often,  or  to  act  as  a  body, 
except  upon  special  occasions.  Members  of  the  Re- 
publican  state   central   committee   are   appointed   at 

130 


DEMOCRATIC   PARTY  IN   PENNSYLVANIA 

the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  state  convention;  the 
delegates  to  the  convention  from  each  senatorial  dis- 
trict select  a  man  from  their  district  to  serve  upon 
the  central  committee.  The  membership  of  that  com- 
mittee, therefore,  has  no  necessary  connection  with  the 
membership  of  the  local  county  committees.  This  is 
in  contrast  with  the  Democratic  rule  requiring  the 
local  committeemen  to  be  members  of  the  state  com- 
mittee also. 

The  chairman  of  the  state  committee  is  chosen  by 
different  methods  in  the  two  parties.  The  Demo- 
crats fix  a  date  when  the  state  central  committee 
shall  meet  for  that  specific  purpose,  and  their  rule 
makes  any  Democratic  voter  of  the  State  eligible 
to  the  office.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Republicans  place 
the  election  of  their  state  chairman  in  the  hands  of 
the  candidates  for  office  nominated  at  the  state  con- 
vention, acting  in  conjunction  with  the  permanent 
chairman  of  the  convention. 

Both  parties  leave  the  conduct  of  the  campaign 
largely  to  the  ordering  of  the  state  chairman.  In  the 
Republican  party  this  official  has  the  right  to  name 
twelve  of  the  members  of  the  state  committee,  the  ob- 
ject evidently  being  to  secure  for  the  chairman  more 
effective  support  from  a  small  body  of  men  of  his  own 
selection  than  would  be  possible  from  the  whole  mem- 
bership of  the  great  committee.  The  Democratic  party 
provides  for  this  smaller  body  through  the  subdivision 
of  the  state  into  nine  sections,  and  by  requiring  from 
each  division  a  man,  named  by  the  members  of  the 
state  central  committee  from  the  division,  to  serve  as 
committeeman. 

131 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

The  rules  of  the  Republican  party  appear  to  leave 
a  much  wider  range  of  power  and  authority  to  the 
separate  counties.  Without  any  suggestion  of  author- 
ity, or  even  supervision  from  superior  state  party 
officials,  the  counties  legislate  upon  a  great  variety  of 
the  details  of  organization.  In  the  Democratic  party, 
on  the  contrary,  every  rule  adopted  by  the  counties 
is  subject  to  the  authoritative  revision  of  the  state 
executive  committee;  and  a  county  which  refuses  to 
follow  the  directions  of  the  state  committee  is  de- 
prived of  its  right  to  participate  in  the  state  con- 
vention. 

Nevertheless,  the  Democratic  rules  secure  to  the 
separate  counties  a  much  more  direct  and  effec- 
tive share  in  the  appointment  of  the  state  party  of- 
ficers. The  state  central  committee  is  made  up  en- 
tirely of  persons  selected  in  the  several  counties,  in 
contrast  to  the  corresponding  Republican  committee, 
which  is  appointed  by  the  delegates  from  the  counties 
in  attendance  upon  the  state  convention.  The  Demo- 
cratic chairman  of  the  state  committee  is  chosen  by 
an  annual  meeting  of  the  state  central  committee, 
called  for  that  purpose,  while  the  Republican  chair- 
man is  named  by  candidates  for  office  nominated  by 
the  state  convention.  There  is,  however,  nothing  in 
the  details  of  organization  to  adequately  account  for 
the  marked  differences  in  the  reputation  of  the  two 
parties  for  strength  and  effectiveness. 


132 


CHAPTER   XI 

PARTY  ORGANIZATION  IN  A  NEW  ENGLAND  STATE — 
MASSACHUSETTS 

The  State  of  Pennsylvania  has  been  taken  to  illus- 
trate a  condition  where  one  party  has  long  held  the 
ascendancy,  and  has  developed  an  elaborate  and 
thorough  form  of  organization.  In  Massachusetts, 
though  the  same  party  has  dominated  state  poli- 
tics for  many  years,  party  organization  has  had  a  less 
strongly  marked  development.  It  is  one  of  the  States 
holding  annual  elections,  state  officers  and  members 
of  both  houses  of  the  legislature  being  chosen  each 
year;  and  the  law  specifies  that  the  important  party 
committees  shall  also  be  chosen  annually. 

Each  political  party  is  required  to  elect  at  least  one 
member  of  the  state  central  committee  of  the  party  at 
the  annual  convention  for  the  nomination  of  a  candi- 
date for  state  senator.  This  law  applies  to  all  parts  of 
the  State,  except  Suffolk  County,  in  which  the  city 
of  Boston  is  situated.  In  that  county  both  the  can- 
didate for  state  senator  and  the  member  of  the  cen- 
tral committee  are  chosen  at  a  party  caucus,  or  pri- 
mary election,  by  the  use  of  the  Australian  ballot. 
Since  there  are  forty  senatorial  districts,  the  state 
party  committees  consist  of  at  least  forty  members. 

133 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

The  term  of  office  of  a  state  committeeman  is,  by 
statute,  one  year,  dating  from  January  1.  Though 
the  conventions  which  elect  the  members  of  the  state 
committee  occur  one  or  more  months  before  the  No- 
vember election,  that  copimittee  does  not  organize  until 
the  following  January,  when  the  law  prescribes  that 
it  shall  meet  and  choose  a  chairman,  a  secretary,  a 
treasurer,  and  such  other  officers  as  they  may  decide 
to  elect.  And  within  ten  days  of  the  date  of  organi- 
zation the  secretary  of  the  committee  is  required  to 
send  to  the  secretary  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  to 
the  party  committee  in  each  city  and  town,  a  list  of 
the  members  of  the  state  committee. 

Another  section  of  the  law  reads : 

Each  political  party  shall  in  every  ward  and  town,  annu- 
ally elect  a  committee,  to  be  called  a  ward  or  town  committee, 
to  consist  of  not  less  than  three  persons,  who  shall  hold  office 
for  one  year  from  the  first  day  of  January  next  following 
their  election  and  until  their  successors  shall  have  organized. 
(Chapter  XI,  Sec.  81.     Revised  Laws,  1903.) 

The  ward  committee  is  required  by  law  to  organize 
by  electing  chairman,  secretary,  treasurer,  and  such 
other  officers  as  they  may  choose,  within  thirty  days 
of  January  1 ;  and  the  town  committee  must  do  like- 
wise before  the  first  of  March.  The  secretaries  of  these 
local  committees  are  required,  within  ten  days  of  the 
date  of  organization,  to  file  a  list  of  members  and  offi- 
cers with  the  state  secretary,  with  the  secretary  of  the 
state  party  committee,  and  with  the  town  clerk. 

All  these  laws   of  the   State   affecting  party  ma- 

134 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   IN   MASSACHUSETTS 

chinery  are  of  recent  enactment,  and  they  leave  no 
room  for  doubt  or  obscurity  as  to  its  main  features. 
Organization  in  the  two  parties  is  made  practically 
identical  by  statute.  ''The  two  leading  parties"  are 
recognized  in  various  ways.  They  are  secured  equal 
representation  on  the  different  boards  and  commis- 
sions concerned  with  elections.  The  names  Democrat 
and  Republican  nowhere  appear,  but  the  phrase, 
''two  leading  parties"  is  made  by  law  to  apply  to  "the 
political  parties  which  cast  the  highest  and  the  next 
highest  number  of  votes  for  governor  at  the  preced- 
ing annual  election."  Any  party,  however,  which 
at  the  last  annual  election  polled  for  governor  at  least 
three  per  cent,  of  the  entire  vote  may  organize  under 
the  law  and  receive  recognition  on  the  ballots  pre- 
pared by  the  State.  The  only  party  committees 
legally  recognized  or  required  are  the  state  central 
committee,  the  local  town  and  ward  committees,  and 
the  city  committee,  which,  according  to  the  law,  is 
composed  of  the  ward  committees  of  the  city. 

Other  party  committees,  though  of  little  importance 
in  comparison  with  those  having  a  legal  standing,  are, 
nevertheless,  numerous.  The  State  is  divided  into 
eight  districts  for  the  election  of  members  of  the 
executive  council,  and  in  each  of  these  districts  is  a 
party  committee  composed  of  one  member  from  each 
of  the  towns  and  cities  or  wards  in  the  district.  In 
each  of  the  senatorial  districts  is  a  corresponding  com- 
mittee made  up  in  the  same  way.  There  is  a  con- 
gressional committee  for  each  congressional  district, 
and  a  county  committee  for  each  county.  But  one 
who  w^ould  understand  the  peculiar  party  organization 

135 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

of  the  State  must  bear  in  mind  that  these  committees, 
one  and  all,  perform  the  mere  formal  functions  of  pro- 
viding for  the  holding  of  the  district  and  county  con- 
ventions. They  are  not  working  party  committees 
such  as  are  familiar  to  citizens  of  other  States.  None 
of  them  serves  as  an  intermediary  between  the  state 
central  committee  and  the  town  committees.  No  such 
intermediary  is  provided;  the  state  committee  trans- 
acts business  directly  with  the  town  and  city  commit- 
tees. If  a  vacancy  should  occur  in  the  list  of  party 
candidates,  or  some  other  unusual  exigency  should 
arise,  a  district  committee  might  be  called  together  to 
meet  it;  but  the  regular  work  of  the  parties  is  con- 
ducted by  those  committees,  and  those  only  which  act 
under  the  sanction  of  the  law. 

Party  conventions  fill  a  place  of  much  importance 
in  the  political  machinery  of  the  State.  Direct,  or 
caucus,  nomination  has  been  limited  in  the  past,  with 
few  exceptions,  to  offices  to  be  voted  for  in  the  single 
town  or  ward,  while  other  nominations  in  city,  county, 
district,  and  State  have  been  by  party  conventions. 
The  Joint-Caucus  or  Primary  Election  Act  of  1903 
encroaches  somewhat  upon  the  party  convention  by 
extending  the  field  of  direct  nomination.  Through 
this  law  was  mandatory  only  for  the  city  of  Boston 
and  its  vicinity,  its  provisions  have  been  and  may  be 
by  local  option  adopted  in  other  cities  and  towns. 
It  remains  true,  however,  that  all  candidates  for 
state  offices  and  most  candidates  for  district  and 
county  offices  are  nominated  by  party  conventions, 
and  for  the  most  part  these  are  a  law  unto  themselves. 
Yet  even  the  conventions  are  in  a  measure  hedged 

136 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  IN   MASSACHUSETTS 

about  by  statute.  The  law  ordains  that  four  days 
shall  intervene  between  the  caucus  for  choosing  dele- 
gates and  the  meeting  of  the  convention ;  and  also  that 
the  convention  shall  meet  at  least  forty-eight  hours 
before  the  date  fixed  by  law  for  filing  nominations 
with  the  state  secretary.  The  state  convention  is  left 
entirely  free  to  conduct  its  business  in  its  own  way; 
but  in  a  district  convention  the  law  gives  to  one  fourth 
of  the  delegates  the  right  to  demand  a  roll-call  for  the 
nomination  of  a  candidate,  and  detailed  instructions 
are  given  respecting  the  procedure  in  the  case.  With 
these  few  limitations  party  conventions  are  subject  to 
party  rules  alone. 

A  large  body  of  statute  law  pertains  to  the  regula- 
tion and  control  of  the  party  caucus.  This  term  is 
defined  in  the  statutes  as  applicable  to  "any  public 
meeting  of  the  voters  of  the  ward  of  a  city  or  of  a 
town,  or  of  a  representative  district,  held  under  the 
provisions  of  this  chapter  for  the  nomination  of  a 
candidate  for  election,  for  the  election  of  a  political 
committee  or  of  delegates  to  a  political  convention." 
Here  are  mentioned  three  distinct  functions  of  the  cau- 
cus: 1,  the  nomination  of  candidates  to  be  voted  for 
at  the  ensuing  election ;  2,  the  election  of  party  com- 
mitteemen ;  3,  the  election  of  delegates  to  attend  polit- 
ical conventions. 

The  phrase  ''public  meeting  of  voters"  needs  to  be 
further  defined,  or  explained.  As  used  in  the  laws, 
the  term  applies  not  alone  to  a  public  assembly,  but 
also  to  a  gathering  at  the  polls  during  certain  pre- 
scribed hours  to  vote,  by  the  use  of  the  Australian  bal- 
lot, for  candidates  for  public  office,  for  committeemen, 

137 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

and  for  delegates  to  conventions.     The  word  caticus 
thus  defined  is  a  synonym  for  primary  election. 

The  law  makes  it  the  duty  of  the  state  party  com- 
mittee to  fix  a  certain  day  for  the  holding  of  the  party 
caucus  in  all  the  cities  and  towns  in  the  State,  except 
as  otherwise  provided  in  the  Joint-Caucus  Act  of  1903. 
At  the  caucuses  thus  appointed  direct  nominations 
are  made  for  certain  offices,  and  delegates  are  chosen 
to  the  different  conventions.  A  corresponding  act  pro- 
vides for  city  caucuses.  A  law  passed  several  years 
ago  forbids  the  two  leading  parties  or  any  two 
parties  to  hold  the  general  caucus  on  the  same  day. 
If  two  state  committees  should  by  chance  designate 
the  same  day,  then  the  party  which  first  filed  the  no- 
tice with  the  state  secretary  would  hold  the  day,  and 
the  other  party  would  be  obliged  to  select  a  different 
date.  But  the  Joint-Caucus  Act  of  1903,  the  latest  leg- 
islation on  the  subject,  introduced  a  radical  change  in 
this  regard,  by  requiring  all  parties  to  hold  their 
caucus,  or  primary  election,  at  the  same  time  and  place, 
and  under  the  same  officers.  The  date  of  the  meeting 
is  fixed  by  law  for  all  parties ;  those  in  charge  are 
the  election  officers  appointed  to  serve  at  elections,  and 
the  ballots  used  are  furnished  by  the  city  or  town. 

At  the  November  election  of  1903,  twenty-one  of  the 
thirty-three  cities  of  Massachusetts  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty-seven  of  the  three  hundred  and  seven 
towns  voted  to  accept  the  Joint-Caucus  Act.  An 
amendment  modifies  the  act  in  its  application  to  towns. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania the  two  parties  act  quite  independently,  each 
adopting  its  own  rules,  constitutions,  and  by-laws,  with 

138 


'  PARTY   ORGANIZATION   IN   MASSACHUSETTS 

the  result  of  striking  differences  in  the  two  party 
organizations.  The  Democratic  state  convention,  for 
example,  has  legislated  with  much  detail  for  the  guid- 
ance of  party  action  in  counties ;  while  the  Republican 
party  leaves  the  details  of  organization  to  the  separate 
counties.  Republican  county  conventions  have  there- 
fore legislated  for  forty  years,  and  the  results  appear 
in  a  great  variety  of  printed  rules  for  controlling  party 
action.  In  Massachusetts,  on  the  contrary,  a  very 
large  part  of  the  rules  regulating  the  conduct  of  politi- 
cal parties  is  to  be  found  in  the  revised  statutes  of  the 
State.  No  other  State  has  gone  so  far  in  the  legal 
recognition  of  party  organization,  and  in  the  legal  con- 
trol of  party  action.  Political  conventions  and  party 
committees  determine  in  Pennsylvania  who  shall  be 
accounted  members  of  the  organization  and  entitled 
to  participate  in  its  acts.  In  Massachusetts  those 
matters  are  mainly  under  legal  regulation.  The  laws 
regard  the  fact  of  participation  in  a  party  caucus 
prima  facie  evidence  of  party  membership ;  they  or- 
dain that  having  voted  at  a  political  party  caucus  a 
man  is  disqualified  from  participation  in  the  caucus 
of  any  other  political  party  during  the  ensuing  twelve 
months;  ''but  no  political  committee  shall  prevent 
any  voter  from  participating  in  a  caucus  of  its  party 
for  the  reason  that  the  voter  has  supported  an  indepen- 
dent candidate  for  political  office." 

The  Joint-Caucus  law  prescribes  that  at  the  caucus 
the  party  connection  of  each  voter  shall  be  checked  on 
the  polling  list.  Party  membership  thus  becomes  a 
matter  of  public  record,  and  if  one  wishes  to  change  his 
party  ties  he  must  notify  the  keeper  of  the  record 

139 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   AND  MACHINERY 

ninety  days  in  advance  of  the  date  of  the  caucus  in 
which  he  wishes  to  take  part. 

In  Massachusetts,  as  compared  with  Pennsylvania, 
the  organization  of  the  dominant  party  is  much  less 
effective  and  counts  for  much  less  in  the  government 
of  the  State  and  the  Nation.  The  Republican  party 
has  controlled  Massachusetts  politics  during  the  same 
period  that  it  has  been  predominant  in  Pennsylvania, 
but  its  organization  has  never  been  particularly  strong. 
Legislation  has  been  unfavorable.  The  great  body 
of  the  laws  affecting  party  organization  enacted  dur- 
ing the  last  twenty  years  has,  in  almost  every  particu- 
lar, had,  as  a  leading  motive,  the  stripping  of  power 
from  party  officers,  party  committees,  and  conventions, 
and  handing  it  over  to  the  people.  In  no  case  has  there 
been  any  purpose  to  give  increase  of  power  to  the 
party  machine. 

It  is  inevitable  that  one  should  seek  to  account  for 
the  notable  differences  between  the  organizations  of 
the  same  party  in  the  two  States  under  conditions  in 
some  respects  so  similar.  Perhaps  no  one  fact  goes 
further  in  explanation  of  the  anomaly  than  the  radi- 
cal dissimilarity  in  local  government.  The  New  Eng- 
land town-meeting  is  always  made  to  count  for  much 
in  any  attempt  to  explain.the  social,  moral,  or  political 
peculiarities  of  that  section,  and  it  may  well  be  true 
that  its  overmastering  influence  has  modified  or  molded 
the  form  of  party  organization. 

The  citizen  of  the  government  of  Massachusetts 
yields  conscious  allegiance  to  two  authorities  only 
which  are  of  distinct  corporate  importance,  the  State 
or  Commonwealth,  and  the  local  city  or  town.    He  is 

140 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   IN   MASSACHUSETTS 

surpassingly  ignorant  of  the  government  of  the 
county.  Between  the  State  and  the  town  nothing 
stands,  in  the  mind  of  the  citizen,  as  embodying  the 
corporate  life  of  the  people.  He  knows  of  a  variety 
of  districts  and  areas  for  administrative,  judicial,  or 
electoral  purposes,  and  he  knows  that  to  fourteen  of 
these  areas  the  name  county  is  given;  but  he  knows 
nothing  of  the  county  as  a  corporate  municipality. 
"Not  one  man  in  a  thousand  in  Massachusetts,"  said 
a  member  of  the  state  legislature,  "can  give  the 
names  of  the  officers  of  his  own  county."  County 
offices  there  are  with  fair  salaries  attached,  and  they 
are  filled  by  party  nomination  and  election ;  but  there 
is  no  county  politics  such  as  excites  and  divides  the 
people  of  the  Middle  and  Western  States.  Repeated 
reelection  is  common.  Candidates  for  county  office 
elude  public  attention.  If  there  is  a  county  "ring," 
the  term  •  is  applied  to  a  combination  of  interested 
persons  who  seek  to  maintain  continued  tenure  of  office 
without  attracting  general  notice.  County  politics 
habitually  goes  by  default.  Interest  in  local  politics 
is  centered  and  absorbed  in  that  of  the  towns  and 
cities. 

Political  training  in  New  England  has  resulted  in 
the  exaltation  of  the  office-holder  and  the  candidate  for 
office,  rather  than  that  of  the  party  machine  which  puts 
him  into  his  place.  The  unit  of  the  town-meeting  is 
the  individual  citizen,  and  town  politics  is  intensely 
personal.  In  spite  of  extreme  and  lasting  partizan- 
ship,  in  spite  of  factional  divisions  of  long  duration, 
the  parties  in  the  town  remain  simply  two  sets  of  men, 
and  no  party  machinery  can  effectively  intervene  be- 

141 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

tween  the  individual  voter  and  the  candidate  or  the 
holder  of  local  office.  The  influential  person  may  al- 
ways appeal  to  the  voters  against  the  dictation  of  party 
officials.  This  sort  of  training  in  local  affairs  creates 
a  disposition  to  carry  over  to  the  larger  political  areas 
the  independence  of  the  town-meeting,  and  it  becomes 
natural  and  easy  for  politicians  seeking  positions  in 
the  larger  areas  to  appeal  in  a  similar  way  to  the  in- 
dividual citizens  in  the  towns  composing  the  several 
districts.  Such  conditions  are  unfavorable  to  the 
growth  of  strong  party  organizations. 

All  this  is  incredible  to  those  who  reside  in  States 
where  the  county  is  the  chief  unit  in  local  and  party 
government.  That  there  should  be  a  county  "ring," 
whose  object  is  to  keep  out  of  politics,  passes  belief. 
Political  training,  in  a  highly  organized  county,  re- 
sults, relatively  speaking,  in  the  subordination  of  the 
individual  and  the  exaltation  of  the  agencies  through 
which  he  acts.  It  creates  conditions  favorable  to 
strong  and  effective  party  organization.  The  county 
is  not,  like  the  town,  looked  upon  as  composed  of  indi- 
vidual citizens;  it  is  rather  composed  of  townships; 
it  is  a  corporation  made  up  of  minor  corporate  muni- 
cipalities, and  the  element  of  personality  is  overlaid 
and  obscured  by  successive  organizations.  At  no  point 
does  the  great  mass  of  citizens  come  into  direct  and 
obvious  control  of  a  wide  range  of  local  government, 
and  the  intense  personal  feeling  of  the  town-meeting 
may  give  place  to  an  absorbing  loyalty  and  devotion  to 
party.  The  citizen  is  compelled  to  rely  upon  a  multi- 
tude of  diverse  agencies,  and  the  complex  organiza- 
tion   which    results    counts    for    more,    while    the 

142 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   IN   MASSACHUSETTS 

iudividual  counts  for  less  than  in  the  town.  The 
influential  person  who  makes  direct  appeal  to  the  in- 
dividual voter  in  the  county  does  not  meet  the  response 
which  he  commands  in  the  New  England  town.  His 
criticism  of  party  machinery  often  has  the  appear- 
ance of  an  attack  upon  the  agencies  essential  to  good 
government.  In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  the  prom- 
inence of  the  county  in  local  government  creates  con- 
ditions favorable  to  the  indefinite  increase  of  the 
power  of  party  committees— that  is,  to  the  develop- 
ment of  strong  party  organization. 

It  does  not  follow  that  party  organization  in  a  New 
England  State,  where  the  town-meeting  system  pre- 
vails, will  necessarily  be  characterized  by  weakness  and 
inefficiency,  or  that  in  a  Middle  or  Western  State,  with 
highly  organized  county  government,  it  will  inevitably 
be  vigorous  and  effective.  A  multitude  of  other  fac- 
tors enter  into  the  final  result.  All  that  is  here  main- 
tained is  that,  of  the  two  chief  forms  of  American  local 
government,  the  one  is  favorable,  while  the  other  is 
adverse  to  the  highest  development  of  the  party  ma- 
chine. As  an  apparent  exception  to  the  general  prin- 
ciple advanced  above,  the  state  of  party  development 
in  the  Southern  States  will  occur  to  all.  There  the 
county  has  always  been  the  principal  unit  of  local 
government,  and  the  town-meeting  has  never  gained 
foothold;  but  it  is  also  true  that  the  county  in  the 
South  is  not  highly  organized,  and  training  in  the  con- 
duct of  local  government  counts  for  less  in  the  educa- 
tion of  the  citizen  there  than  in  other  parts  of  the 
United  States.  There  is  a  general  tendency  for  per- 
sonal politics  to  prevail  over  machine  politics.     Can- 

143 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

chelates  strong  in  position  and  in  personal  character- 
istics are  accustomed  to  make  successful  appeals  to  the 
voters  against  the  designs  of  those  who  control  the 
party  organization. 

Three  sorts  of  local  conditions  are  thus  seen  to  have 
a  bearing  upon  the  success  of  party  organizers :  1,  that 
created  by  the  dominance  of  the  New  England  town- 
meeting;  2,  that  of  the  highly  organized  county; 
3,  that  which  results  from  the  lack  of  well-developed 
local  government  of  either  kind. 

In  the  place  of  rules  adopted  by  party  conventions,  party  com- 
mittees in  Massachusetts  issue  handbooks  containing  the  laws  for 
the  control  of  party  conduct.  The  parties,  however,  are  per- 
mitted to  adopt  additional  rules  not  in  conflict  with  the  state 
laws,  and  committees  have  done  this  for  the  organization  in 
Boston. 

State  conventions  rely  upon  the  daily  press  for  the  publication 
of  their  proceedings.  TJie  Advertiser  published  a  Republican 
Year  Book  for  Massachusetts,  in  1895,  containing  the  platform 
and  a  brief  party  history.  The  Massachusetts  method  of  politi- 
cal leadership  is  illustrated  by  the  multitude  of  addresses  from 
individuals,  candidates  and  committees,  to  the  electors,  and  from 
individuals  to  the  legislature. 


144 


CHAPTER   XII 

PARTIES  IN   MASSACHUSETTS  AND  PENNSYLVANIA 
COMPARED 

A  COMPARISON  of  the  senatorial  leadership  of  the  Re- 
publican party  in  Massachusetts  with  that  of  the  same 
party  in  Pennsylvania  throws  additional  light  upon 
the  two  types  of  party  organization  in  those  States.  In 
both  States  the  senatorial  office  has  overshadowed  all 
others.  The  senators  have  been  the  acknowledged 
leaders  of  their  party.  Since  both  are  "safe"  Repub- 
lican States,  their  state  politics  has  been  little  af- 
fected by  the  choice  of  presidential  candidates.  Few 
political  leaders  in  either  State  have  seriously  con- 
templated the  attainment  of  a  higher  office  than  that  of 
United  States  senator.  In  both  States  there  has  been 
a  marked  tendency  to  give  to  the  office  of  senator  a 
life  tenure;  repeated  reelection  has  followed  the  first 
choice.  In  both,  the  senators  chosen  have  been  con- 
spicuous in  national  party  leadership,  being  excelled  in 
that  respect  by  those  of  the  State  of  New  York  alone. 
In  the  year  1847,  having  vainly  endeavored  to  per- 
suade the  Whig  convention  of  Massachusetts  to  take 
a  decided  stand  in  opposition  to  the  extension  of  slav- 
ery, Charles  Sumner  united  with  Charles  Francis 
Adams  and  a  few  others  in  the  formation  of  the  Free 
10  145 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

Soil  party.  As  chairman  of  the  state  committee  of  the 
new  party,  Mr.  Siunner  conducted  the  campaign  of 
1848  in  the  interest  of  Van  Buren  and  Adams,  and  was 
himself  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  candidates  of  his 
party  for  the  lower  House  of  Congress.  Henry  Wilson 
succeeded  Mr.  Sumner  as  chairman  of  the  state  com- 
mittee, serving  from  1849  to  1852.  In  1850  and  1851 
Mr.  Wilson  was  a  member  of  the  state  senate,  and  its 
presiding  officer.  As  the  official  head  of  his  party 
he  managed  the  contest  which  resulted,  in  April,  1851, 
in  the  election  of  Mr.  Sumner  to  the  national  Senate. 
This  was  accomplished  by  a  combination  of  Free  Soil- 
ers.  Democrats,  and  disaffected  Whigs.  A  deadlock 
in  the  lower  house  of  the  state  legislature,  which  lasted 
for  more  than  three  months,  was  at  last  overcome  and 
a  bare  majority  secured  for  Mr.  Sumner  by  an  agree- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  chairman  of  the  state  commit- 
tee of  the  Free  Soil  party  to  use  the  organization  in  the 
interest  of  the  candidacy  of  Mr.  Boutwell,  a  Democrat, 
for  governor  of  the  State.  Thus  began  the  great  career 
of  Charles  Sumner  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
He  was  then,  as  he  remained,  the  logical  candidate  of 
his  party,  because  he  was  the  most  effective  expounder 
of  its  doctrines. 

Upon  the  decline  of  the  Free  Soil  organization, 
Henry  Wilson  joined  the  American,  or  Know-nothing 
party,  and  by  its  aid  was  elected  to  the  national  Senate 
in  1855.  The  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Republican 
party,  just  then  coming  into  being,  were  practically 
identical  with  those  of  the  Free  Soil  party  of  which 
Sumner  and  Wilson  were  original  founders  and  lead- 
ers.   By  means  of  the  fragments  of  parties  destroyed 

146 


MASSACHUSETTS  AND  PENNSYLVANIA 

and  those  created  by  the  new  issue,  both  these  men  be- 
came Kepublican  senators  before  there  was  a  national 
organization  of  that  name,  and  may  therefore  be  re- 
garded as  the  original  Kepublican  senators. 

The  two  Massachusetts  senators  were  strikingly  dif- 
ferent in  social  position,  and  in  their  preparation  for 
their  high  calling.  Mr.  Sumner  was  from  a  distin- 
guished family,  and  he  represented  the  culture  and 
learning  of  Boston  and  Cambridge,  and  had  enjoyed 
to  the  full  all  the  advantages  of  university  education. 
Mr.  Wilson  was  without  family;  his  very  name  was 
given  him  by  an  act  of  the  legislature.  When  he 
attained  his  majority  he  had  been  for  eleven  years  ap- 
prenticed to  a  farmer.  Then  he  became  a  shoemaker, 
a  student,  again  a  shoemaker,  an  editor,  a  member 
of  the  state  legislature,  a  party  manager,  a  state 
campaigner,  then  senator  of  the  United  States.  The 
two  men,  therefore,  stood  for  two  measurably  dis- 
tinct political  elements  in  the  State,  the  city,  and 
the  country ;  but  respecting  the  one  overshadowing 
question  of  the  time  they  were  at  one,  and  the 
State  was  practically  a  unit  in  their  support.  Mr. 
Sumner  remained  in  the  Senate  to  the  day  of  his  death, 
in  March,  1874.  Mr.  Wilson  passed  from  the  floor  of 
the  Senate  to  the  chair  of  its  presiding  officer  when  he 
became  Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  in  1873. 
Both  had  made  themselves  leaders  of  their  party  and 
maintained  themselves  as  such  chiefly  by  excelling  in 
the  effective  advocacy  of  the  principles  of  the  party. 
Indeed,  the  party  itself  took  organic  form  around  the 
persons  of  these  conspicuous  exponents  of  the  doc- 
trines   which    demanded    political    embodiment.      To 

•147 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

give  effect  to  the  convictions  of  these  leaders  and  the 
principles  which  they  had  espoused,  the  party  came 
into  being.  Sumner  and  Wilson  were  successively  re- 
elected because  their  party  trusted  them,  and  because 
the  whole  State  was  proud  of  their  gifts  and  of  their 
faithful  devotion  to  the  public  service. 

In  this  first  period  of  Republican  ascendancy  in  Mas- 
sachusetts we  have  presented  a  type  of  party  organiza- 
tion and  of  party  leadership  which  is  comparatively 
simple  and  easily  understood.  Men  with  well-known 
characters,  and  acting  from  motives  which  cannot 
be  mistaken,  furnish  full  and  adequate  explanation. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  comprehend  why  men  possessing 
the  convictions  and  the  personal  endowments  of 
Charles  Sumner  and  Henry  Wilson  should  aspire 
to  positions  of  political  leadership,  and  should  avail 
themselves  of  the  earliest  opportunities  to  secure  seats 
in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Equally  clear  is 
it  that  a  State  which  fortune  had  already  made  the 
most  conspicuous  in  the  cause  of  union,  and  which 
was  becoming  united  in  resistance  to  the  extension  of 
slavery,  would  naturally  seek  to  retain  at  the  head  of 
affairs  leaders  of  such  commanding  ability  and  influ- 
ence. No  intricate  party  machinery  was  required. 
The  men  were  known,  their  motives  w^ere  obvious,  and 
they  guided  and  controlled  the  party. 

Simon  Cameron,  the  first  Republican  senator  from 
Pennsylvania,  was  born  in  1799.  At  the  age  of  nine 
he  began  to  work  in  a  printing-office,  and  at  twenty- 
one  he  had  become  an  editor.  Later  he  was  known  as 
a  banker  and  a  builder  of  railroads.  In  1845  he  was  a 
Democratic"  member  of  the  national  Senate,  but  ten 

148 


MASSACHUSETTS  AND    PENNSYLVANIA 

years  later  he  became  the  organizer  and  leader  of  the 
People's  party  of  his  State,  which  he  represented  in 
the  Senate  in  1857.  The  call  for  the  Republican  con- 
vention which  nominated  Lincoln  in  1860  invited  the 
"People's  party  of  Pennsylvania"  to  send  delegates. 
In  that  convention  Mr.  Cameron  received  votes  both 
for  the  Presidency  and  the  Vice-Presidency.  He  en- 
tered Lincoln's  cabinet  as  Secretary  of  War  in  1861, 
and  the  following  year  w^as  sent  as  minister  to  Russia. 
Reentering  the  Senate  in  1866  he  follow^ed  Mr.  Sumner 
in  the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Af- 
fairs in  1872.  For  the  fourth  time  he  w^as  chosen 
senator  in  1874,  and  three  years  later  resigned  his 
place  in  favor  of  his  son. 

James  Donald  Cameron  w^as  graduated  from  Prince- 
ton College  in  1852,  at  the  age  of  nineteen.  Having 
served  as  cashier  in  a  bank,  as  president  of  a  bank,  and 
as  vice-president  of  a  railway  company,  he  was  from 
1863  to  1874  president  of  the  Northern  Central  Rail- 
way Company  of  Pennsylvania,  besides  being  con- 
nected wdth  many  mining  and  manufacturing  busi- 
ness enterprises.  In  1877,  as  United  States  senator, 
he  succeeded  to  the  party  leadership  vacated  by  his 
father. 

During  the  early  years  of  the  history  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  Pennsylvania  was  as  emphatically  the 
most  advanced  of  the  States  in  respect  to  the  devel- 
opment of  modern  industries  as  was  Massachusetts  in 
voicing  the  sentiment  of  the  North  in  favor  of  the 
Union  and  against  the  extension  of  slavery.  It  was  as 
natural  that  business  men  should  go  to  the  United 
States  Senate  from  Pennsylvania  as  that  anti-slavery 

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PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

men  should  go  from  Massachusetts.  The  men  ^yho 
were  creating  railway  systems  and  forming  combina- 
tions of  mining,  manufacturing,  and  transportation 
companies  would  naturally  employ  different  methods 
in  organizing  and  directing  a  political  party  from 
those  whose  chief  aim  was  to  give  expression  to  a 
clearly  defined  moral  sentiment.  There  is  here  sug- 
gested a  radical  diversity  in  principles  controlling  po- 
litical leadership  which  must  be  better  understood 
before  much  real  progress  can  be  made  toward  the 
solution  of  the  problem  of  free  government. 

The  political  questions  in  which  the  people  of  Mas- 
sachusetts took  the  deepest  interest,  in  the  years  when 
events  were  preparing  the  way  for  the  Civil  War, 
were  such  as  directly  appealed  to  the  deepest  feelings. 
Daniel  Webster  advanced  Massachusetts  to  a  position 
of  leadership  in  the  cause  of  the  Union  more  by  his 
appeal  to  sentiment  than  by  the  superiority  of  his 
logic.  In  like  manner  the  eloquent  utterances  of  other 
public  leaders  raised  to  a  passion  the  inherent  sense  of 
right  and  justice  already  excited  against  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery. 

To  rouse  and  move  great  bodies  of  men  in  the  direc- 
tion of  a  common  sentiment  of  right,  a  common  feeling 
or  rivalry,  of  antipathy,  or  of  prejudice,  has  ever  been 
an  easier  task  than  to  secure  united  and  effective 
action  in  the  rational  choice  of  a  merely  preferable 
policy.  In  the  race,  as  in  the  child,  the  dominance  of 
feeling  precedes  that  of  reason.  For  thousands  of 
years  leadership  of  the  multitude  turned  upon  the 
power  to  direct  the  course  of  common  sentiment,  be- 
fore the  slow  growth  of  the  intellectual  faculties  had 

150 


MASSACHUSETTS   AND   PENNSYLVANIA 

prepared  mankind  for  the  exercise  of  conscious  choice, 
under  the  guidance  of  calm  reason,  between  competing 
lines  of  public  policy.  Progress  was  made  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  growth  of  liberty,  when  all  leaders 
played  upon  feeling  without  a  thought  of  addressing 
the  intellect  and  the  judgment,  by  the  substitution  of 
the  more  noble  for  the  less  noble  sentiment.  So  long 
as  the  choice  rests  between  different  forms  or  degrees 
of  despotism  nothing  better  can  be  done.  A  different 
condition  is  reached,  however,  when  an  effort  is  made 
to  induce  the  mass  deliberately  and  consciously  to 
decide  between  two  or  more  possible  courses  of  public 
policy.  Then  judgment  and  reason  are  often  brought 
into  conflict  with  sentiment,  and  the  excitement  of 
feeling  may  itself  be  a  hindrance  to  the  exercise  of 
reason.  The  real  difficulty  in  the  conduct  of  the  demo- 
cratic state  lies  in  the  devising  of  means  whereby  the 
mass  of  the  people  may  be  enabled  to  form  correct 
judgments.  The  appeal  to  common  moral  sentiment 
must,  nevertheless,  ever  remain  a  cardinal  factor  in 
political  leadership.  Feeling  may  be  trained  and  regu- 
lated; it  can  never  be  abolished.  Its  importance 
among  the  forces  of  which  the  science  of  government 
takes  account  will  not  diminish;  but  as  the  difficulty 
attending  the  formation  of  correct  judgments  becomes 
more  generally  appreciated,  the  sentimental  appeal 
will  hold  a  relatively  less  prominent  place. 

The  first  Republican  senators  from  Massachusetts 
were  fortunate  in  that  their  names  were  linked  with 
great  moral  issues  in  a  mighty  conflict  upon  which  the 
attention  of  mankind  was  focused.  They  furnish  an 
almost  ideal   example  of  a  certain  definite  type  of 

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PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

political  leadership.  Through  a  series  of  accidents, 
if  accidents  there  be  in  the  realm  of  human  action, 
the  moral  leaders  of  the  people  of  a  great  State  were 
led  to  form  a  new  political  party  and  to  secure  and 
hold  for  their  lifetime  the  guidance  of  that  party's 
course.  The  sentiments  for  which  they  contended 
gained  a  signal  triumph,  and,  happily,  those  sentiments 
were  in  themselves  such  as  to  command  the  lasting 
approval  of  mankind.  There  are,  however,  certain 
particulars  in  which  this  instance  of  high  moral  leader- 
ship in  a  political  party  does  not  admit  of  repetition 
in  a  democratic  state.  The  issues  raised  at  the  organi- 
zation of  the  new  party  were  not  settled  in  the  demo- 
cratic way.  Appeal  was  made  to  force,  and  because 
of  the  war  that  followed,  the  ascendancy  of  passion 
and  the  habit  of  addressing  an  audience  with  fervid 
oratory,  a  prevailing  sentiment  was  prolonged  for  a 
term  of  years.  If  the  abolition  of  slavery  had  not  come 
as  an  incident  of  war,  it  is  extremely  probable  that  the 
Massachusetts  senators  would  not  have  remained  so 
conspicuously  prominent  as  examples  of  successful  po- 
litical leadership  upon  a  high  moral  plane.  This  view 
does  not  in  the  least  detract  from  the  credit  and  honor 
which  are  their  due ;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that 
such  leadership  as  theirs  is  exceptional,  and  arises 
from  exceptional  conditions. 

Has  any  political  issue  been  raised  since  the 
war  which  admits  of  a  similar  appeal  to  a  clearly  de- 
fined moral  sense  ?  Organized  capital  has  entered  into 
dispute  with  organized  labor,  and  there  have  been 
those  on  both  sides  who  have  been  disposed  to  reduce 
the  quarrel  to  a  simple  question  of  right  and  wrong. 

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MASSACHUSETTS  AND  PENNSYLVANIA 

Capitalists  there  have  been  who  saw  *' nothing  to  ar- 
bitrate," and,  with  the  support  of  unshaken  conviction, 
they  have  felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  abide  by  their 
personal  opinions  at  whatever  sacrifice  or  loss;  while 
working-men  not  a  few  have  accounted  their  wrongs 
and  sufferings  analogous  to  those  of  the  slave.  But 
progress  toward  more  tolerable  and  more  just  re- 
lations has  been  made  through  mutual  advance  in  in- 
telligent apprehension  and  appreciation  of  the  difficul- 
ties inseparable  from  changing  industrial  and  social 
conditions  by  which  both  parties  to  the  struggle  are 
hampered.  This  by  no  means  implies  a  slighter  de- 
mand upon  the  moral  qualities;  on  the  contrary,  it 
involves  the  exercise  of  higher  and  more  discriminat- 
ing moral  judgments. 

The  various  problems  that  have  grown  out  of  the 
national  debt  and  questions  of  money  and  banking 
have  each  and  all  been  obscured  by  the  injection  of 
false  appeals  to  moral  sentiment.  After  the  analogy 
of  those  who  waged  the  moral  war  against  slavery, 
there  have  been  some  upon  both  sides  of  these  contro- 
versies who  have  assumed  that  they  themselves  stood 
for  the  obviously  correct  and  right  policy,  while  their 
opponents  were  moral  delinquents.  This  has  led  to 
the  impugning  of  motives,  to  vituperation  and  abuse, 
to  habitual  appeal  to  prejudice,  to  giving  assent  to 
teachings  known  to  be  erroneous.  Progress  in  the 
solution  of  such  questions  can  be  assured  only  as  men 
attain  unto  a  state  of  candor,  open-mindedness  and 
intellectual  honesty  in  their  study  of  the  industrial 
and  political  phenomena  involved.  It  is  a  higher  type 
of  morality  which  is  manifested  by  the  citizen  who 

153 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

gives  time  and  hard  mental  labor  to  the  understanding 
of  the  intricate  phenomena  of  modern  life  that  he 
may  use  for  the  common  good  his  powers  and  his 
opportunities,  than  is  that  which  leads  a  man  to  face 
the  cannon's  mouth  under  the  stimulus  of  an  un- 
thinking, though  worthy,  sentiment  of  patriotism. 
The  hero  of  war  is  conscious  of  the  moral  support 
and  admiration  of  the  mass  of  his  fellows.  The  man 
who  with  strenuous  effort  taxes  his  energies  for  the 
formation  of  correct  opinions,  and  sacrifices  private 
advantage  in  acting  upon  them  for  the  promotion  of 
the  commonweal,  has  no  such  support.  Our  country 
has  suffered  enormous  loss  of  moral  energy  because  the 
general  public  has  been  so  captivated  and  enthralled 
by  the  type  of  leadership  evolved  by  the  dramatic 
issues  of  the  Civil  War.  Practical  matters  of  political 
economy  and  finance,  upon  whose  wise  settlement  the 
comfort  and  well-being  of  millions  have  depended,  have 
seemed  in  comparison  trivial  and  uninteresting.  A 
wide-spread  hankering  has  prevailed  after  some  great, 
spectacular  moral  issue.  Not  a  few  have  fondly  be- 
lieved themselves  to  have  found  such  an  issue  in  the 
liquor  traffic ;  others  have  seen  it  in  still  other  de- 
sirable reforms.  All  such  hopes  are  futile.  The 
moral  war  against  slavery  stands  alone,  and  the  at- 
tempt to  apply  its  spirit  and  methods  to  the  political 
problems  of  this  later  and  widely  different  era  is 
either  useless  or  positively  immoral  and  harmful. 

Partly  because  it  cannot  be  repeated,  much  should 
be  made  of  the  single  example  in  our  history  of 
successful  political  leadership  based  upon  moral  and 
sentimental  ideas,  which  was  developed  in  the  anti- 

154 


MASSACHUSETTS   AND    PENNSYLVANIA 

slavery  struggle.  Its  value  lies  in  the  undoubted  fact 
of  the  dominance  of  the  noblest  motives  and  the  en- 
tire absence  of  any  thought  or  possibility  of  personal 
gain.  Massachusetts,  as  the  most  conspicuous  of  the 
States  which  were  so  led  for  a  series  of  years,  furnishes 
an  object-lesson  whose  teachings  can  never  lose  their 
force.  The  problems  confronting  the  democracy  of 
the  present  and  the  future  must  be  dealt  with  after 
other  manners,  but  their  solution  requires  ideals  as 
exalted  and  motives  as  pure  as  those  of  Sumner  or 
Wilson,  though  the  circumstances  will  debar  the  lead- 
ers of  the  after  time  from  the  opportunities  enjoyed 
by  the  elder  statesmen  for  easy  display  and  spectacular 
demonstration. 

As  a  State,  Pennsylvania  has  at  no  time  stood  con- 
spicuously either  for  the  support  of  the  Union  or  for 
resistance  to  the  extension  of  slavery.  It  swung  into 
the  Republican  ranks  and  strongly  sustained  the 
Union  cause  along  with  the  other  Northern  States ;  but 
it  was  as  a  follower  of  more  radical  States  rather  than 
as  a  leader.  The  People's  party  which  Simon  Cameron 
had  organized,  and  which  had  sent  him  to  the  Senate, 
was  merged  in  the  new  Republican  party,  whose 
founders  and  leaders  were  among  the  most  prominent 
men  in  the  State.  They  were  men  whose  signal  busi- 
ness sagacity  and  talents  were  contributing  to  the  re- 
markable industrial  and  financial  development  which 
the  State  was  just  then  experiencing.  Pennsylvania 
was  the  principal  seat  of  the  iron  and  coal  industries  of 
the  country,  and  to  them  was  added  a  little  later  the 
wonderful  oil  product.  Huge  business  corporations 
were  being  formed  on  every  hand  for  the  exploitation 

155 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

of  these  various  sources  of  wealth.  The  men  of  politi- 
cal prominence  and  influence  were  also  captains  of 
industry  and  chiefs  of  finance.  The  younger  Cam- 
eron, whose  early  career  has  been  briefly  sketched, 
was,  during  the  war,  president  of  the  principal 
railway  system  of  the  State,  and  rendered  valuable 
service  to  the  government  in  the  matter  of  trans- 
portation of  troops  and  supplies.  His  interests  were 
large  in  connection  w^ith  mining  and  manufacturing 
as  well.  He  was  but  one  among  many  of  the  success- 
ful men  of  action  who  gave  to  the  organization  and  de- 
velopment of  the  Republican  party  in  Pennsylvania 
the  benefit  of  their  unusual  business  training  and  ex- 
perience, and  helped  to  fix  upon  the  political  machine 
many  of  the  qualities  of  the  business  corporation. 

A  business  corporation  is  found  to  be  most  efiicient 
and  economical  when  the  resources  of  the  many  are 
placed  unreservedly  at  the  disposal  of  one  organizing 
and  directing  mind.  The  adoption  of  this  principle  has 
rendered  the  American  corporation  a  model  in  these  re- 
spects. The  property  of  the  stockholders  has  been 
either  actually  transferred  to  the  managers  or  has 
been  placed  at  their  command  with  a  minimum  of  lim- 
itation. Thus  the  directness  and  economy  of  indi- 
vidual control  has  been  combined  with  the  advantages 
of  a  multiple  ownership.  Had  the  laws  for  the  pro- 
tection of  stockholders  been  rigidly  enforced,  had  the 
joint  owners  of  corporate  property  maintained  their 
right  to  a  voice  in  the  management  of  the  business, 
had  the  superior  rights  of  the  general  public  been  con- 
served with  reasonable  care,  those  great  enterprises 
could  never  have  attained  to  the  marvelous  efficiency 

156 


MASSACHUSETTS   AND  PENNSYLVANIA 

aud  economy  of  managenieiit  which  is  now  character- 
istic of  them,  and  there  would  have  been  no  such  mass- 
ing of  property  in  the  hands  of  individuals  as  we  now 
observe.  The  absorption  of  public  attention  by  tlie 
war  and  the  resulting  issues  was  a  circumstance  which 
was  at  least  favorable  to  the  creation  of  these  enor- 
mous corporations  and  their  growth  to  the  present 
menacing  proportions.  Their  development  called  for 
the  strongest  organizing  ability  which  the  country 
afforded,  and  the  returns  have  been  sufficient  to  at- 
tract the  most  ambitious  and  the  most  gifted  of  men. 
The  Republican  party  of  Massachusetts  was  founded 
to  promulgate  a  doctrine.  Its  creators  and  leaders 
w^ere  men  of  profound  convictions  who  were  also 
skilled  in  the  use  of  argument.  They  were  able  to 
convince  their  hearers  and  to  move  the  multitude  to 
action  by  their  powers  of  speech.  Of  another  sort  were 
the  party  leaders  in  Pennsylvania.  They  were  men 
accustomed  to  do  rather  than  to  talk;  they  adapted 
means  to  ends  and  looked  for  direct  and  tangible  re- 
sults. To  the  keen-sighted  business  man  the  obvious 
use  and  purpose  of  a  party  organization  is  to  get  the 
right  sort  of  men  put  into  office,  and  the  right  sort  of 
man  for  the  office  is  one  who  can  be  relied  upon  to 
do  the  right  things.  At  first,  in  Pennsylvania  as  in 
other  States,  the  particular  right  thing  for  the  new 
organization  to  accomplish  was  to  displace  the  men 
in  office  who  approved  the  attitude  of  the  Buchanan 
administration  upon  the  Kansas  question,  by  substi- 
tuting those  of  the  contrary  opinion.  A  little  later 
it  became  apparent  that  the  right  thing  for  the  new 
party  to  do  w^as  to  fill  every  office,  high  and  low,  wdth 

157 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

men  who  would  support  Lincoln's  administration  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  war.  The  Pennsylvania  party 
leaders,  and  especially  the  elder  Cameron,  were  thor- 
ough-going believei^  in  the  use  of  the  patronage  of 
the  government  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  objects 
of  the  party.  In  the  critical  time  of  w^ar  to  place 
disloyal  men  in  positions  of  trust  and  responsibility 
seemed  to  him  akin  to  treason.  In  the  exigencies  of 
the  great  national  struggle  the  party  took  on  the  sem- 
blance of  an  army,  and  what  could  be  more  unreason- 
able than  to  choose  the  officers  of  your  army  from  the 
ranks  of  the  enemy  ^  Simon  Cameron  held  consis- 
tently to  his  original  position,  and  one  of  the  last 
public  acts  of  his  life  was  bitterly  to  oppose  the  move- 
ment for  the  reform  of  the  civil  service  during  the 
Hayes  administration. 

Massachusetts  Republicans  followed  two  senatorial 
leaders  of  equal  and  coordinate  rank,  the  one  repre- 
senting Boston  and  Harvard  College,  the  other  stand- 
ing in  closer  touch  with  the  towns  and  smaller  cities. 
On  the  main  issues  of  the  day  the  two  were  fully 
agreed.  But  an  American  business  enterprise  attains 
the  maximum  of  efficiency  under  the  direction  of  a 
single  master  mind.  A  railway  company  does  not  have 
two  presidents  at  a  time,  it  has  one.  Consistently, 
then,  Pennsylvania  has  had  but  one  senatorial  leader 
at  a  time. 

It  were  an  easy  matter,  how^ever,  to  carry  too  far 
the  analogy  between  the  party  organization  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  modern  business  corporation.  Strik- 
ing and  important  as  it  is,  it  is  not  all-embracing.  In 
the  modern  world  of  business  the  organs  of  operation 

158 


MASSACHUSETTS   AND   PENNSYLVANIA 

and  management  are  effectively  concealed  from  the 
public  view.  Great  enterprises  are  projected  and  car- 
ried into  eft'ect  as  if  by  a  single  man,  and  the  business 
is  regarded  as  personal  rather  than  corporate.  In  the 
political  party,  on  the  other  hand,  the  corporate  idea 
receives  special  emphasis.  Millions  of  men  are 
thought  of  and  spoken  of  as  being  moved  by  a  com- 
mon impulse  to  a  common  end.  The  party  is  itself 
exalted  while  individual  consequence  is  minimized.  In 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  something  less  than  a  mil- 
lion of  voters  are  enrolled  by  a  party  committee  as 
members  of  the  organization,  and  on  special  occasions 
as  many  as  one  fifth  of  the  entire  number  are  made  to 
regard  themselves  as  important  party  officials  and 
bound  to  minister  to  its  welfare.  Especial  effort  is 
directed  to  the  one  end  of  impressing  upon  the  mind 
of  every  one  of  its  supporters  the  tremendous  value 
of  the  party  organization  and  the  absolute  necessity 
for  its  maintenance  and  the  increase  of  its  power. 
Thus,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  political  party 
becomes  an  effective  teacher  of  the  multitude  in  the 
line  of  united,  organized,  corporate  action. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  State  which  has 
held  the  foremost  place  in  the  evolution  of  the  modern 
corporation,  the  State  which  was  first  to  originate  a 
wide-spread  fusion  of  railway  and  mining  interests, 
the  State  in  which  conflicts  between  labor  and  capital 
first  assumed  proportions  suggestive  of  civil  war,  is 
also  the  field  for  the  strongest  and  most  enduring 
state-wide  party  organization  that  has  yet  appeared  in 
America.  The  Republican  party  of  Pennsylvania  is 
strong  enough  to  meet  the  business  corporations  of  the 

159 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

State  upon  at  least  equal  terms.  And  while  the  or- 
ganization has  been  used  in  many  ways  to  favor  cor- 
porate interests  at  the  expense  of  the  Commonwealth, 
it  is  capable  of  being  used  to  restrain  and  control  cor- 
porate power. 

The  most  serious  of  the  problems  of  the  present  day 
is  that  which  grows  out  of  the  massing  of  wealth, 
whereby  the  control  of  the  means  of  subsistence  centers 
in  the  hands  of  the  few.  This  condition  is  a  fact  to 
be  taken  into  account  quite  independentfy  of  forms  of 
government  or  the  existence  of  political  parties.  Whe- 
ther the  rights  of  the  people  are  safer  with  a  strong 
party  organization,  such  as  has  grown  up  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, than  without  such  an  agency,  is  a  question  for 
argument  rather  than  for  dogmatic  assertion.  Whether 
such  party  organization  and  such  political  training  as 
has  prevailed  in  Massachusetts  furnishes  a  more  hope- 
ful prospect  for  successfully  coping  with  threatening 
dangers  than  does  the  stronger  party-machine,  is  also 
matter  for  discussion  and  study  rather  than  for  de- 
cision out  of  hand.  While  it  is  doubtless  true,  as  has 
been  said,  that  the  town-meeting  does  not  supply  a 
good  model  for  the  government  of  an  army,  it  does 
furnish  opportunity  for  a  sort  of  training  which  is 
indispensable  to  the  success  of  democratic  government, 
and  those  qualities  of  the  town-meeting  which  have 
gone  into  the  party  organizations  of  the  New  England 
States  are  valuable  assets  to  be  treasured  and  utilized 
for  the  common  good.  Peculiar  advantages  are  also  de- 
rived from  the  experience  of  the  citizen  under  the  more 
highly  organized  and  less  democratic  local  government 
of  the  county.     Massachusetts  and  Pennsylvania  are 

160 


MASSACHUSETTS  AND  PENNSYLVANIA 

but  two  of  fifty  States  and  Territories,  in  every  one  of 
which  party  organs  have  been  freely  developed  and 
adapted  to  the  varying  local  conditions.  Each  one 
is  in  a  position  to  make  an  independent  contribution 
to  the  solution  of  the  multiplex  political  problems  con- 
fronting the  nation. 

As  industrial  organization  has  become  more  com- 
plete, increased  attention  has  been  directed  in  every 
State  to  the  organization  of  the  political  parties.  This 
common  tendency  is  illustrated  in  what  has  already 
been  said  of  the  experience  of  Massachusetts.  Party 
organization  there  has  been  seen  to  have  been  at  first 
weak  and  informal,  such  as  was  fitted  to  give  expres- 
sion to  a  prevailing  sentiment;  while,  as  the  common 
sentiment  gave  place  to  the  perplexing  questions  of 
later  days,  party  machinery  became  more  prominent. 
The  large  body  of  legislation  of  recent  years  bears 
testimony  to  this  fact.  Opposition  to  the  grow- 
ing power  of  the  party  organs  is  expressed  in  the 
laws.  The  statutes  guard  in  various  ways  the  rights 
of  the  independent  voter.  Party  committees  are  for- 
bidden to  debar  a  citizen  from  participation  in  a  party 
caucus  on  the  ground  of  refusal  to  support  the  party 
nominee  at  a  previous  election.  At  the  same  time,  as 
has  been  shown,  the  lawmakers  have  been  led  to  recog- 
nize more  and  more  explicitly  the  regular  party  or- 
ganizations as  integral  parts  of  the  government.  Con- 
fronted with  the  alternative  of  submitting  to  the  rule 
of  an  organization  uncontrolled  by  law,  or  of  incor- 
porating that  organ  among  the  institutions  of  the 
State,  they  have  chosen  to  incorporate.  The  result 
is  that  in  a  State  in  which  there  is  a  maximum  of  in- 
"  161 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

telligent  conviction  unfavorable  to  the  increasing 
power  of  party  organs,  in  which  independent  voters 
are  numerous  and  influential,  the  party  system  has 
secured  the  most  complete  legal  recognition.  A 
clearer  demonstration  of  the  increasing  vitality  of  the 
party  system  it  would  be  difficult  to  find. 

There  are  certain  States  in  which  the  owners  of 
valuable  franchises  or  leaders  in  some  form  of  capi- 
talistic organization  hold  the  place  of  supreme  power. 
These  organizations  are  stronger  than  the  legislature, 
the  executive,  and  the  state  judiciary;  stronger  than 
any  state  party  organization.  In  other  States,  of  which 
Pennsylvania  is  an  example,  the  dominant  political 
party  shows  a  marked  tendency  tow^ard  gaining  and 
holding  supreme  power.  Still  others,  like  Massachu- 
setts, are  pervaded  by  a  sentiment  in  favor  of  main- 
taining the  several  departments  of  the  regular  state 
government  in  the  position  of  supremacy,  and  in  pur- 
suance of  that  policy  are  gradually  incorporating 
party  machinery  into  the  general  system  of  state  and 
local  governmental  organs. 

The  diverse  conditions  attending  the  development 
of  the  Republican  party  in  the  two  States  which  have 
been  compared  in  this  chapter  have  necessarily  af- 
fected more  or  less  the  history  of  the  party  of  oppo- 
sition in  those  States.  Nearly  all  that  has  been  said 
of  party  organization  in  Massachusetts  applies  alike 
to  both  the  principal  parties.  Their  machinery  is 
practically  identical.  In  respect  to  the  national  issues 
connected  with  slavery  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
Union,  the  State  became  substantially  unanimous,  so 
that  for  a  time  the  Democratic  organization  was  almost 

162 


MASSACHUSETTS   AND   PENNSYLVANIA 

extinct.  Upon  the  original  questions  which  called 
the  Republican  party  into  existence,  the  two  parties 
do  not  differ.  The  Democrats  have,  however,  fur- 
nished strenuous  and  sometimes  effective  opposition 
to  the  Republican  position  upon  the  various  issues 
which  have  arisen  since  the  war.  The  large  inde- 
pendent vote  of  the  State  has  been  favorable  to  the 
minority  party.  While  the  normal  Republican  ma- 
jority has  been  large,  local  and  state  elections  have  by 
no  means  been  secure.  Much  of  the  time  the  city  of 
Boston  has  gone  Democratic,  and  twice  the  Demo- 
crats have  elected  the  governor.  Like  Pennsylvania, 
Massachusetts  is  a  manufacturing  State,  and  a  ma- 
jority of  the  population  have  favored  the  policy  of 
protection,  though  free-traders  of  prominence  and  in- 
fluence have  not  been  wanting,  while  a  larger  class  has 
advocated  more  liberal  tariff  legislation.  The  Demo- 
cratic party  of  the  State  has  been  in  harmony  with 
the  national  party  in  respect  to  tariff  questions,  and 
it  has  in  numerous  ways  fulfilled  the  proper  functions 
of  a  party  in  opposition.  It  has  kept  the  party  in 
power  upon  its  good  behavior ;  it  has  furnished  to  the 
independent  voter  a  convenient  means  of  making  an 
impression  upon  the  government;  it  has  promoted  in- 
telligent debate  and  has  provided  an  alternate  agency 
in  readiness  for  assuming  the  responsibilities  of  gov- 
ernment. In  many  ways  the  attitude  of  the  Democratic 
party  in  Massachusetts  is  more  commendable  than  it 
is  in  Pennsylvania.  At  a  critical  juncture  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Democrats  offered  serious  obstruction  to  the  na- 
tional party  in  respect  to  the  tariff.  They  have  not  fur- 
nished that  serious,  independent,  fighting  opposition 

163 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

which  the  Republicans  have  encountered  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  there  is  much  more  evidence  of  collusion 
between  the  office-holding  or  office-seeking  members 
of  the  two  parties  in  Pennsylvania  than  in  Massa- 
chusetts. 

Each  state  has  its  peculiar  history  in  respect  to  senatorial 
leadership.  The  two  here  presented  represent  extreme  types. 
In  Massachusetts  leadership  is  personal  and  is  open,  in  all  its 
parts,  to  the  public  observation.  The  Autobiography  of  Senator 
Hoar  illustrates  in  every  detail  Massachusetts  methods  and  prin- 
ciples. But  to  understand  the  Pennsylvania  type  of  political 
leadership  involves  knowledge,  not  of  a  person,  but  of  an  organi- 
zation. To  attempt  to  explain  the  phenomena  by  the  life  of  a 
senator  is  to  insure  failure. 


164 


CHAPTER   XIII 

PARTY   ORGxiNIZATION   IN   A   TYPICAL   DOUBTFUL 
STzVTE  — INDIANA 

Indl\na  is  a  typical  ''doubtful"  State.  There  the 
two  parties  have  for  fifty  years  maintained  an  even 
balance,  neither  having  ever  become  dominant.  Both 
organizations  have,  therefore,  been  kept  in  thoroughly 
effective  fighting  condition,  and  each  recurring  elec- 
tion is  a  real  contest  for  the  control  of  the  government. 
New  York  is  a  doubtful  State  because  a  Democratic 
metropolis  is  balanced  by  a  Republican  rural  popu- 
lation; but  Indiana  is  doubtful  because  the  voting 
constituency  of  the  two  parties  is  distributed  evenly 
between  city  and  country  in  all  sections  of  the  State. 
Certain  marked  characteristics  are  presented  by  the 
doubtful  States  in  respect  to  both  party  organization 
and  party  leadership.  They  are  the  natural  home 
of  the  aspirant  for  the  Presidency,  and  are  more  likely 
than  other  States  to  furnish  the  candidates  for  the 
quadrennial  struggle.  This  is  because,  in  the  unstable 
equilibrium  which  normally  holds  between  the  two 
chief  national  parties,  it  is  practically  the  doubtful 
States  which  determine  the  choice  of  a  President.  All 
the  local  forces  and  influences  in  such  a  State  must 
therefore  be  utilized.    By  taking  the  party  candidate 

165 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

from  a  region  of  uncertain  preferences,  state  and  local 
pride,  personal  friendship,  family  connection,  as  well 
as  less  worthy  sentiments,  are  all  made  to  pay  tribute 
to  the  momentous  result  and  may,  in  a  close  contest, 
determine  that  result.  Hence  it  has  become  customary 
to  select  the  presidential  candidates  from  the  States 
in  which  the  parties  are  most  nearly  equal  in  strength. 

In  a  State  dominated  by  one  party,  the  highest 
honor  which  is  the  object  of  a  reasonable  political  am- 
bition is  election  to  the  United  States  Senate,  since 
presidential  candidates  are  seldom  chosen  from  a 
''safe"  State,  and  there  is  only  a  remote  possibility 
that  any  citizen  may  ever  achieve  a  higher  place.  Even 
the  office  of  governor,  politically  speaking,  counts  for 
less  than  that  of  senator,  and  the  governor  would  will- 
ingly become  a  senator.  Senatorial  leadership  in  such 
a  State  is  more  effective  than  in  one  that  is  doubtful. 
Since  the  office  remains  term  after  term  in  the  same 
party,  and  frequently  in  the  same  person,  its  patron- 
age (if  the  State  is  controlled  by  the  party  which  main- 
tains national  supremacy)  becomes  a  valuable  party 
asset,  and  the  element  of  fluctuation  from  one  side  to 
the  other,  which  modifies  the  same  leadership  in  doubt- 
ful States,  is  eliminated.  In  a  State  constantly  con- 
trolled by  the  party  out  of  power  senatorial  leadership 
is  of  the  same  essential  nature,  though  it  lacks  the 
advantage  of  the  Federal  patronage. 

Senators  from  a  doubtful  State  command  a  rela- 
tively less  complete  party  ascendancy.  Against  them 
there  is  always  the  fact  that  the  State  contains  presi- 
dential aspirants  who  are  also  party  leaders,  and  there 
is  the  additional  fact  never  lost  sight  of  that  a  man 

166 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   IN    INDIANA 

from  the  State  may  actually  become  President  of  the 
United  States  and  the  supreme  head  of  his  party 
both  in  State  and  Nation.  The  special  field  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  senatorial  leadership  is  in  the  party  organiza- 
tion of  the  State. 

In  the  States  which  furnish  the  candidates  in  a 
presidential  campaign  the  influence  of  the  national 
committee  of  the  party  is  much  stronger  than  in 
others,  since,  as  has  been  shown,  that  body  is  guided 
rather  by  executive  than  senatorial  leaders.  In 
States  whose  governors  aspire  to  the  Presidency, 
and  which  therefore  receive  special  assistance  from 
the  national  committee,  the  control  of  the  local  state 
organization  is  liable,  under  certain  circumstances,  to 
be  transferred  from  senator  to  governor.  New  York 
senators,  for  example,  who  have  successfully  guided 
the  politics  of  their  State  and  controlled  the  Federal 
patronage,  have  repeatedly  been  forced  to  yield  pre- 
cedence to  a  governor  who  has  become  a  presidential 
candidate. 

The  States  command  national  political  attention  in 
proportion  to  their  importance  in  a  presidential  elec- 
tion. New  York,  having  the  largest  number  of  presi- 
dential electors,  is  first  considered.  Ohio  has  stood 
next,  but  if  it  should  pass,  as  is  deemed  possible,  from 
the  doubtful  to  the  safe  class  of  States,  then  it  may 
be  expected  to  furnish  fewer  candidates  for  the  Chief 
Magistracy  and  to  receive  a  smaller  share  of  public 
notice,  while  the  senatorial  leadership  of  the  State  will 
doubtless  become  more  conspicuous.  Indiana,  which 
has  hitherto  ranked  third  among  the  doubtful  States, 
would  then  be  advanced  to  the  second  place. 

167 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

The  peculiar  conditions  prevailing  in  a  doubtful 
State  serve  to  render  its  politics  more  intense  and  to 
give  to  party  strife  a  larger  place  in  the  life  of  the 
people,  than  in  other  States.  A  much  larger  propor- 
tion of  the  voters  habitually  devote  time  and  strength 
to  the  working  of  the  party  machine.  Two  complete 
party  organizations  are  constantly  maintained  in  an 
attitude  of  responsibility,  actual  or  anticipated,  for 
the  conduct  of  the  government.  In  many  of  the  States 
the  minority  party  does  not  expect  or  intend  to  really 
assume  any  such  responsibility  respecting  the  affairs 
of  state.  Its  mission  is  that  of  discussion  and  criticism 
rather  than  of  action.  But  in  a  State  where  the 
question  of  party  ascendancy  is  an  uncertain  one,  and 
the  burdens  of  government  may  be  shifted  at  short  in- 
tervals from  one  to  the  other,  both  the  contending 
hosts  must  be  kept  continually  upon  a  war  footing. 

Party  organization  in  Indiana  resembles  that  of 
Pennsylvania  in  that  the  county  holds  a  leading  place. 
It  is  the  chief  organ  for  local  government  and  around 
it  the  party  organs  have  been  formed.  In  party  mat- 
ters the  different  counties  legislate  for  themselves,  and, 
as  in  the  older  State,  there  is  much  variety  in  local 
detail.  As  in  Massachusetts,  the  organizations  of  the 
two  parties  are  practically  identical. 

Party  committees,  one  and  all,  serve  for  terms  of 
two  years.  Reorganization  is  effected  on  the  even- 
numbered  years  when  congressmen  are  elected,  and 
once  in  four  years  the  organization  has  special  ref- 
erence to  the  presidential  election.  The  laws  require 
a  separate  precinct  for  every  two  hundred  and  fifty 
voters,  and  the  more  populous  townships  are  therefore 

168 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   IN   INDIANA 

subdivided  into  precincts.  A  mass  meeting  of  the 
party  called  by  the  existing  precinct  committee  selects 
a  precinct  committee.  This  takes  place  in  January 
or  February  of  the  campaign  year.  The  chairman 
of  the  precinct  committee  is  ex  officio  a  member  of  the 
township  committee.  The  township  committee,  com- 
posed of  the  precinct  chairmen,  meets  and  organizes  by 
choosing  a  chairman  and  other  officers.  It  has  charge 
of  the  local  party  interests  of  the  township. 

The  county  central  committee,  whose  number  varies 
in  the  different  counties,  consists  of  representatives 
chosen  by  the  precinct  delegates  at  a  county  conven- 
tion or,  in  some  counties,  by  the  separate  precincts. 
The  method  of  constituting  party  committees  out  of 
representatives  from  minor  areas  should  be  carefully 
noted,  since  one  of  its  ett'ects  is  to  increase  the  power 
of  the  committee  at  the  expense  of  the  party  conven- 
tions. The  county  committee,  composed  of  representa- 
tives chosen  in  the  precincts,  or  by  delegates  at  the 
county  convention,  calls  all  county  conventions  for 
making  nominations  and  for  choosing  delegates  to  at- 
tend district  or  state  conventions.  The  committee  it- 
self determines  whether  the  county  convention  shall 
be  a  mass  convention  or  an  assembly  of  delegates,  or 
whether  a  primary  election  shall  be  held.  If  a  delegate 
convention  is  decided  upon,  the  committee,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  previously  adopted  party  rules,  prescribes  the 
basis  of  representation.  Composed  as  it  is  of  repre- 
sentatives from  the  precincts,  the  county  committee  is 
disposed  to  assume  and  exercise  authority  in  place  of 
the  convention.  It  is  stated  that  many  of  the  delegates 
to  the  Democratic  state  convention  of  1904,  which  was 

169 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

called  to  choose  delegates  to  the  national  convention 
at  St.  Louis,  were  selected  by  the  county  committees 
without  the  formality  of  a  county  convention.  This 
is  regarded  as  illegal,  as  against  unwritten  party  law, 
but  the  process  was  not  contested. 

The  county  committee  is  always  large ;  in  some 
counties  it  numbers  more  than  a  hundred.  As  in  all 
cases  where  an  official  body  is  made  up  of  many  and 
widely  distributed  individuals,  the  real  power  of  the 
committee  is  centralized  in  the  chairman  or  a  small 
group  of  managers. 

The  first  committee  from  an  area  larger  than  the 
county  is  that  of  the  congressional  district.  It  is  com- 
posed of  the  chairmen  of  the  central  committees  of 
the  various  counties  of  the  district,  who,  as  leaders  of 
party  organization  in  their  own  counties,  have  im- 
portant duties;  but  the  district  committee  as  such  has 
little  to  do.  It  does  not  even  elect  its  own  chairman. 
A  district  convention  is  called  once  in  two  years  for 
the  purpose  of  electing  a  member  of  the  state  central 
committee;  and  the  same  convention  may  also  nomi- 
nate a  candidate  for  representative  to  Congress.  Usu- 
ally, however,  the  convention  for  choosing  the  district 
member  of  the  state  committee  is  called  to  meet  in 
January  or  February  of  the  campaign  year,  while  the 
district  nominating  convention  meets  later,  in  May  or 
June,  and  nominates  the  candidate  for  Congress.  The 
member  of  the  state  committee  chosen  in  each  of  the 
thirteen  districts  by  the  district  convention  is  by  vir- 
tue of  that  position  chairman  of  the  committee  of  his 
district.  The  entire  membership  of  the  district  com- 
mittee is  thus  ex  officio,  being  made  up  of  county 

170 


PARTY    ORGANTZATTON   IN    INDIANA 

chairmen  and  presided  over  by  one  who  is  not  a 
county  chairman,  but  is  elected  from  outside  as  the 
district  member  of  the  state  central  committee.  The 
district  committee's  few  duties  are  confined  to  mere 
formal  matters  connected  with  the  calling  of  conven- 
tions and  the  meeting  of  emergencies.  Party  interests 
in  the  district  are  in  the  hands  of  the  chairman  of  the 
district  committee ;  but  his  duties  to  the  district  are 
due  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  he  is  a  member  of  the 
state  central  committee. 

The  member  of  the  state  committee  in  each  district 
cooperates  with  the  candidate  for  Congress  and  acts 
as  his  committeeman — at  least  the  candidate  has  no 
other  party  agency  except  his  private  secretary,  who 
is  an  active  political  agent  of  the  congressman,  in  cor- 
respondence, in  distributing  literature,  and,  as  occa- 
sion offers,  in  personal  work.  By  its  construction, 
therefore,  the  state  committee  is  prepared  to  serve  the 
double  purpose  of  conducting  a  general,  state-wide 
campaign,  and  at  the  same  time  a  special  campaign  in 
each  congressional  district.  There  appears  no  need  of 
the  double  organization  found  in  some  States  for  ac- 
complishing these  two  objects.  AVhether  the  local 
committeeman  in  the  county  receives  orders  respecting 
the  particular  interests  of  the  candidate  for  Congress, 
or  is  instructed  concerning  the  general  interests  of  the 
party,  the  communication  comes  with  the  authority 
of  the  one  state  committee. 

The  state  central  committee  is  composed  of  thirteen 
members,  one  from  each  congressional  district.  It 
comes  into  existence  through  separate  and  special  acts 
of  the   district  conventions,   and  the  machinery   for 

171 


.    PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

its  evolution  is  set  in  motion  early  in  the  year  in  the 
precincts,  townships,  and  counties.  All  the  state 
committeemen  have  been  named  before  the  date  for 
the  opening  of  the  campaign,  which  is  inaugurated 
by  calling  the  committee  together  for  organization. 
The  thirteen  members  choose  a  chairman,  vice-chair- 
man, secretary,  treasurer,  and  such  other  officers  as 
they  may  wdsh.  Usually  the  chairman  selected  is  not  al- 
ready a  member  of  the  committee,  and  most  frequently 
the  secretary  and  some  of  the  other  officers  are  paid 
employees  of  the  committee.  Of  its  four  chief  officers 
and  perhaps  one  or  two  of  its  own  number,  the  com- 
mittee constitutes  an  executive  committee  to  have  im- 
mediate charge  of  the  routine  work  of  the  campaign. 
The  executive  committee,  however,  in  no  sense  dis- 
places the  central  committee,  which  remains  in  full 
command,  the  subordinate  committee  serving  as  one 
of  its  working  agencies. 

In  theory  the  party  conventions  of  the  various 
areas  hold  the  place  of  supreme  authority,  with  the 
committees  as  subsidiary  instrumentalities.  This  is 
the  party  theory  in  Indiana  as  in  other  States;  but 
there  the  committees  are  made  up  in  such  a  way  as  to 
obscure  this  relation.  Indiana  committees  are  not  usu- 
ally appointed  by  conventions  representing  the  same 
areas.  They  come  into  existence,  as  do  the  conventions 
themselves,  by  independent  acts  of  the  people  of  the 
minor  areas.  Separate  acts  of  thirteen  district  con- 
ventions designate  the  members  of  the  state  com- 
mittee; county  committees  are  in  some  cases  named 
by  the  separate  precincts  or  by  precinct  delegates.  A 
district  convention  does  indeed  elect  a  committeeman 

172 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION    IN    INDIANA 

who  is  the  chairman  of  the  district  committee,  but 
the  convention  has  no  share  in  choosing  the  district 
committee.  This  being  the  case,  it  is  not  strange  that 
the  permanent  working  committees  should  exhibit  a 
tendency  to  exalt  their  position  and  seek  to  dominate 
the  party  conventions.  Much  complaint  has  arisen  on 
account  of  the  alleged  usurpations  of  the  party  com- 
mittees. 

The  effective  working  committees  of  the  State  are 
two,  the  county  committees  and  the  state  central  com- 
mittee, and  the  latter  deals  directly  with  the  former. 
The  party  machine  is  not  centralized,  as  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, in  the  sense  of  being  subject  to  the  direction 
of  a  single  mind;  but  it  is  centralized  to  the  extent 
that  a  single  committee  controls  and  directs  the  party 
campaigns.  The  machinery  of  both  parties  is  adjusted 
with  special  reference  to  economy  of  force  in  the  cam- 
paign. The  one  state  organ,  having  full  command, 
is  able  to  utilize  every  interest  represented  by  the  gen- 
eral ticket,  and  at  the  same  to  bring  to  bear  all  the 
local  forces  in  the  congressional  districts.  Candidates 
for  Congress  in  safe  districts  are  called  upon  to  assist 
the  party  at  large,  while  special  aid  is  rendered  to 
the  hard-pressed  candidate  in  a  doubtful  district.  Lo- 
cal organization  in  the  counties  is  also  compact  and 
thorough  and  local  party  officials  are  not  confused  by 
any  double  source  of  superior  authority. 

Senatorial  leadership  is  in  evidence  in  Indiana  as  in 
other  States,  one  of  the  members  of  the  national  Sen- 
ate being  traditionally  accounted  the  party  leader. 
His  leadership  may  be,  however,  much  restricted  and 
conditioned  by  an  influential  and  aspiring  governor, 

173 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

and  likewise  by  the  able  congressional  leadership  in 
the  thirteen  districts,  where  the  candidates  for  posi- 
tions in  the  lower  House  of  Congress  constitute  an 
independent  factor  which  profoundly  affects  and  com- 
plicates the  question  of  state  party  leadership.  Above 
all,  however,  senatorial  leadership  is  conditioned  by 
the  ever  prominent  fact  that  the  place  in  the  upper 
House  may  pass  to  the  opposite  party.  Especially 
does  this  fact  modify  and  restrain  tendencies  to  party 
faction.  In  its  very  nature  senatorial  leadership  as- 
sumes and  depends  upon  the  dominance  of  one  party 
in  the  State,  and  since  the  Republicans  have  in  recent 
years  been  most  successful  in  carrying  elections,  this 
discussion  of  the  topic  is  limited  in  application  to  that 
party.  The  principle  referred  to  is  well  illustrated 
in  the  case  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  whose  condition  of 
doubtfulness  appears  to  be  passing  into  that  of  safety, 
and  the  senatorial  control  of  the  state  party  machine 
to  be  therefore  becoming  more  effective. 

Indiana  has  acquired  a  reputation  for  the  habitual 
and  long-continued  use  of  money  in  the  purchase  of 
votes.  Careful  observers  express  the  opinion  that  one 
tenth  of  the  electors  are  accustomed  to  cast  their  ballots 
for  a  money  consideration.  Something  of  this  evil  rep- 
utation, whether  well  or  ill  founded,  is  doubtless  to  be 
credited  to  the  peculiar  political  history  of  the  State. 
When  the  Republican  party  was  first  organized  in 
Indiana  political  struggles  were  intense  and  often 
bitter.  The  impression  was  general  that  the  Demo- 
crats were  assisted  in  elections  by  colonized  voters  from 
Kentucky,  and  it  was  argued  that  party  duty  re- 
quired such  illegal  voting  to  be  offset  by  voting  cor- 

174 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   IN   INDIANA 

respondingly  illegal.  To  vote  "early  and  often"  was 
accounted  honorable.  Strenuous  partizanship  was 
soon  merged  in  civil  war.  There  w^ere  in  the  State 
many  sincere  and  ardent  sympathizers  w^ith  the  South, 
and  it  was  thought  necessary  to  establish  a  rigid  mili- 
tary rule.  The  State  was  won  and  kept  to  a  nominal 
support  of  the  Republican  administration  during  the 
war  by  force  of  arms,  and  upon  the  withdrawal  of  mili- 
tary power  it  was  found  that  the  two  parties  were,  as 
before,  of  nearly  equal  strength.  A  free  vote  and 
a  fair  count  have  never  been  made  to  coincide  with 
government  by  force,  and  military  control  of  elections 
directly  fosters  the  use  of  unlawful  means  for  gain- 
ing legitimate  political  ends.  When  the  war  closed 
the  people  had  become  habituated  to  illegal  acts  in  the 
choosing  of  political  officers.  The  transfer  of  a  few 
votes  from  one  party  to  the  other  makes  all  the  dif- 
ference between  success  and  failure.  In  a  presidential 
year  a  mere  handful  of  ballots  may  determine  the  suc- 
cess or  defeat  of  the  national  party.  The  actual  finan- 
cial interests  at  stake  are  in  themselves  enormous,  while 
the  imaginary  interests  are  often  much  larger.  If  for 
any  reason  a  limited  class  of  voters  in  a  doubtful  State 
has  become  accustomed  to  the  use  of  illicit  influences, 
the  probabilities  are  strong  that  the  evil  w^ill  be  perpet- 
uated. 


175 


CHAPTER  XIV 

PARTY  ORGANIZATION  IN  A  DEMOCRATIC  STATE— MISSOURI 

No  State  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line  can  be 
classified  as  subject  to  continuous  Democratic  control 
since  the  Civil  War.  All  the  Northern  States  are 
either  Republican  or  doubtful.  In  the  Southern 
States,  the  injection  into  politics  of  the  race  problem 
and  other  questions  growing  out  of  the  war  has  pre- 
vented the  development  of  normal  party  life. 

Of  all  the  States  of  the  Union,  none  comes  so  near 
to  fulfilling  the  conditions  of  normal  party  division, 
while  maintaining  continuous  Democratic  ascendancy, 
as  does  Missouri.  As  in  no  other  slave  State,  there 
was  in  Missouri,  from  the  founding  of  the  Republican 
party,  a  strong  and  active  Republican  organization. 
General  Fremont,  its  first  presidential  candidate,  com- 
manded a  considerable  part  of  the  vote  of  the  State. 
In  1860  it  was  the  only  State  which  chose  a  full  set 
of  Douglas  electors.  St.  Louis,  the  state  metropolis, 
has  much  of  the  time  been  a  Republican  city.  In  the 
midst  of  the  Civil  War,  Missouri,  by  its  own  act,  abol- 
ished slavery  and  even  took  such  radical  measures  for 
the  punishment  of  those  who  aided  or  sympathized 
with  the  Confederacy  as  to  meet  the  disapproval  of 
President  Lincoln. 

176 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   IN   MISSOURI 

The  Democratic  platform  adopted  at  the  state 
convention  held  in  July,  1902,  contains  the  words : 
"The  Republicans  were  in  full  control  of  the  State 
from  1865  to  1871,  and  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
which  represents  nearly  one  fifth  of  the  population 
and  one  third  of  the  wealth  of  the  State,  from  189:^ 
to  1901.  These  periods  of  Republican  administration 
in  the  State  and  city  were  marked  by  a  degree  of  intol- 
erance and  corruption  which  have  few  examples  in 
American  history.  In  the  State  they  enacted  election 
laws  which  denied  to  Democrats  all  over  the  State  any 
representation  w^hatever  in  the  registration  of  voters  or 
at  the  polls  on  election  day,  and  under  which  thousands 
of  citizens  of  high  repute  were  disfranchised  solely 
because  they  were  Democrats— a  law  denounced  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  as  being  without 
any  precedent  for  partizan  brutality. ' '  The  document 
goes  on  to  devote  large  space  to  a  scathing  denuncia- 
tion of  the  Republican  party  for  its  misdeeds  in  State 
and  city.  In  another  place  it  says:  "Under  Demo- 
cratic rule  Missouri  affords  the  people  impartial  and 
honest  election  laws.  ...  In  Missouri  the  mi- 
nority party  is  granted  the  same  rights  and  privileges 
enjoyed  by  the  majority.  The  minority  has  equal 
representation  at  the  polls  in  judges,  clerks,  challen- 
gers, and  watchers."  And  for  the  city  of  St.  Louis 
the  framers  of  the  platform  take  credit  in  that  it  has 
provided  an  election  law  almost  identical  with  the  one 
framed  by  the  Civic  Federation,  which  has  been  ap- 
proved by  a  Republican  House  and  a  Democratic  Sen- 
ate, and  signed  by  a  Democratic  governor. 

The  Republican  platform  of  the  same  year  presents 
12  177 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

a  much  less  favorable  view  of  the  past  and  present 
conduct  of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  State.  It  fails 
to  mention  a  single  commendable  act,  while  pages  are 
devoted  to  explicit  charges  of  political  misbehavior. 
Individual  Democrats  are  indeed  commended,  but  only 
when  they  have  borne  testimony  to  the  misdeeds  of 
their  own  party.  One  reprehensible  act  is  set  forth 
in  the  words:  ''The  sworn  testimony  of  Democratic 
officials  is  on  record  that  Democrats  holding  respon- 
sible positions  of  official  trust  have  become  gatherers 
of  campaign  funds  for  the  Democratic  party  from  cor- 
porations whose  property  values  were  subject  to  as- 
sessment at  their  hands."  So  deeply  affected  are  the 
platform-makers  by  the  iniquities  of  a  body  which 
they  have  described  as  consisting  ''exclusively  and 
altogether  of  Democrats,"  that  they  are  driven  to  a 
high  resolve  on  their  own  behalf  which  is  thus  ex- 
pressed :  ' '  We  hereby  solemnly  declare  our  fixed  and 
determined  purpose  to  oppose  the  election  of  any 
Republican  who  may  be  a  candidate  for  office  who  is 
in  any  way  under  the  control  or  influence  of  the 
lobby."  There  is  here  an  implied  admission  that,  at 
some  time  in  the  indefinite  future,  even  the  Republi- 
cans themselves  might  become  subject  to  lobby  influ- 
ences. Each  party  has,  moreover,  much  to  say  as  to  the 
mismanagement  of  the  school-fund  by  its  opponent, 
while  the  Democrats  manifest  pride  in  their  achieve- 
ments respecting  the  creation  of  a  public-school  sys- 
tem. 

These  extracts  from  the  latest  published  state  plat- 
forms furnish  adequate  proof  of  the  existence  of  two 
vigorous  and  effective  parties  in  Missouri,  and  indicate 

178 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   IN   MISSOURI 

that  they  are  performiug  their  legitimate  functions 
of  watching  over  each  other  for  evil,  to  the  intent  that 
citizens  may  have  greater  facilities  for  improvement 
on  the  policies  and  practices  of  state  and  city  gov- 
ernments. 

In  the  passage  quoted  above  from  the  Democratic 
platform,  the  dates  given  as  designating  the  period  of 
full  Republican  control  in  State  and  city— 1865  to 
1871— also  indicate,  as  will  be  remembered,  the  time 
of  radical  Republican  rule  in  the  South.  So  far  as 
Missouri  was  concerned,  this  radicalism  had  its  origin 
in  the  State  itself.  It  was  by  a  state  law  that  Demo- 
crats were  disfranchised.  Then,  in  the  State  as  in  the 
Nation,  came  a  strong  reaction  against  the  extreme 
policy  of  the  Republicans,  and  at  the  same  time  there 
was  manifested  a  wide-spread  disposition  in  the  Demo- 
cratic party  to  accept  the  results  of  the  war,  includ- 
ing negro  suffrage.  In  view  of  the  attitude  of  the 
Democrats,  liberal  Republicans  maintained  that  uni- 
versal suffrage  should  be  accompanied  by  universal 
amnesty  and  the  removal  of  political  disabilities  from 
those  who  had  supported  the  Confederacy.  It  was  the 
prevalence  of  such  sentiments  in  the  two  parties  that 
gave  rise  to  the  movement  which  resulted  in  the  nomi- 
nation of  Horace  Greeley  for  the  Presidency  by  the 
Democratic  convention  in  1872,  and  to  a  considerable 
defection  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republicans.  Greeley's 
candidacy  was  supported  by  Charles  Sumner  and 
many  other  anti-slavery  leaders  of  national  repute. 
This  important  political  movement  first  crystallized 
in  Missouri.  In  1871,  a  coalition  of  liberal  Republi- 
cans and  Democrats  secured  control  of  the  state  gov- 

179 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

eminent.  The  first  Democratic  senator  from  the  State 
after  the  war  was  Frank  P.  Blair,  who  had  hitherto 
figured  as  a  prominent  Republican  leader.  The  call 
for  the  Cincinnati  convention,  which  nominated  Gree- 
ley, and  whose  candidates  and  platform  were  after- 
ward both  adopted  by  the  regular  national  Demo- 
cratic convention,  was  issued  from  Missouri. 

The  unique  experience  of  this  border  State  during 
and  after  the  war  may  be  said  to  epitomize  in  a  re- 
markable manner  the  experience  of  the  nation  as  a 
whole  in  its  dealing  with  secession,  slavery,  and  re- 
construction. There  was  a  time  when  Missouri  was 
very  near  to  casting  in  her  lot  with  the  Confederacy. 
Large  numbers  of  her  citizens  entered  the  Confederate 
army,  and  strong  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  to 
induce  decisive  action  in  favor  of  secession.  But  the 
prevailing  sentiment  was  after  all  a  loyal  one  and  the 
State  remained  upon  the  Union  side.  The  movement 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  received  the  support  of 
many  planters  and  slave-owners.  Even  the  high- 
handed measures  for  punishing  the  adherents  of  the 
Confederacy  originated  within  the  State,  and  the  re- 
action which  restored  the  Democracy  to  power  was 
likewise  local. 

Missouri  is  the  one  slave  State  in  which  the  Repub- 
lican party  has  from  the  beginning  held  a  prominent 
place,  either  as  the  minority  party  or  as  assuming  full 
control  of  the  government.  Every  other  border  slave 
State  was  Democratic  throughout  the  reconstruction 
period,  and  the  section  was  dominated  by  an  intense 
antipathy  toward  the  party  which,  as  was  alleged  and 
believed,  was  seeking  to  establish  its  power  at  the  point 

180 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   IN   MISSOURI 

of  the  bayonet  with  the  aid  of  votes  of  former  slaves, 
over  the  disfranchised  slave-owners.  When  parties  are 
divided  by  an  issue  of  such  sort  thus  baldly  presented, 
there  can  never  result  anything  resembling  normal 
party  government. 

In  the  other  slave  States,  the  Republican  party 
was  regarded  as  an  alien  intruder.  But  during  the 
six  years  following  the  close  of  the  war,  the  Mis- 
souri Democrat  had  scant  opportunity  for  the  overt 
expression  of  his  natural  lively  antipathy  to  the 
national  Republican  party,  since  he  was  subject  to 
the  rule  of  a  party  of  that  name  organized  in  his  ow^n 
State  by  his  own  fellow-citizens,  and  a  party,  too, 
which  was  not  a  whit  behind  the  national  party  in  the 
harshness  and  severity  of  its  treatment  of  Confederate 
sympathizers. 

It  was  by  securing  the  favor  and  support  of  their 
political  antagonists  that  these  Missouri  Democrats 
were  delivered  from  their  dilemma.  But  the  Repub- 
lican party  remained  in  the  field  as  the  recognized 
organ  of  political  menace  and  criticism.  It  has 
much  of  the  time  controlled  the  principal  city,  and 
has  part  of  the  time  dominated  one  house  in  the 
state  legislature.  During  the  thirty  years  of  their  con- 
tinuous triumph,  the  Missouri  Democrats  have  enjoyed 
the  indisputable  advantage  of  being  confronted  by  an 
efficiently  organized  and  vigilant  opposition  which 
they  were  bound  to  respect.  The  relative  importance 
attached  by  the  dominant  party  to  their  opponents,  as 
organized  in  the  Nation  and  in  the  State,  is  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  in  a  late  state  party  platform  little 
reference  is  made  to  the  policy  of  the  national  Republi- 

181 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

can  party,  while  whole  pages  are  devoted  to  explicit 
discussion  of  the  Republican  policy  within  the  State. 

In  spite  of  her  unique  position  in  political  history, 
Missouri  may  nevertheless  serve  as  typical  of  Demo- 
cratic States  in  which  there  has  grown  up  a  local 
Republican  organization  able  to  command  respect  and 
seriously  to  threaten  to  displace  the  party  in  power. 
In  formal  party  organization,  the  State  more  nearly 
resembles  Indiana  than  any  other  State  thus  far 
considered.  The  two  parties  have  substantially  identi- 
cal organizations.  As  in  Indiana,  there  are  five  ranks 
in  the  committee  system,  and  the  committees  have 
similar  names,  except  that  in  Missouri  the  lowest  is 
that  of  the  school  district  instead  of  the  precinct. 
Members  of  the  party  in  the  school  district  meet  and 
elect  one  of  their  number  as  school-district  committee- 
man, and  the  committeemen  thus  chosen  are,  by  virtue 
of  their  office,  members  of  the  township  committee 
and  constitute  that  committee.  The  membership  of 
the  township  committee  varies  in  number  from  three 
to  eight  or  nine.  It  organizes  by  electing  a  chairman 
and  other  officers.  The  chairmen  of  township  com- 
mittees constitute  the  county  committee,  which  meets 
and  organizes  in  a  similar  manner.  This  completes 
the  county  machinery. 

Next  in  order  stands  the  congressional  district  com- 
mittee, which  is  made  up  of  one  member  from  each 
county ;  but,  on  account  of  differences  of  procedure  in 
the  different  counties  and  districts  in  the  nomination 
of  candidates  for  Congress,  the  members  are  chosen 
in  different  ways.  1.  In  counties  whose  delegates 
to  the  district  convention  are  selected  by  the  county 

182 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   IN   MISSOURI 

convention,  the  district  committeeman  is  also  chosen 
at  the  county  convention.  2.  But  some  counties  vote 
at  a  primary  election  for  a  candidate  for  Congress. 
In  that  case  the  winning  candidate  names  the  list  of 
delegates  to  represent  the  county  in  the  district  con- 
vention, and  these  county  delegates  appoint,  at  the 
district  convention,  the  county  district  committeeman. 
3.  In  some  other  districts  all  the  counties  vote  directly 
for  the  candidate  for  Congress,  and  there  is  therefore 
no  congressional  district  convention.  There  is,  how- 
ever, always  a  county  convention  to  nominate  county 
candidates,  and  this  body  names  the  district  commit- 
teeman. 

The  state  central  committee  is  composed  of  two 
members  from  each  of  the  sixteen  congressional  dis- 
tricts and  two  from  the  State  at  large.  These  are  all 
chosen  by  the  delegates  to  the  state  convention.  That 
convention,  as  a  body,  names  the  chairman  of  the 
state  committee,  while  the  delegates  in  attendance 
from  each  district  name  the  representatives  from  their 
several  districts  to  serve  upon  the  state  committee. 
This  method  makes  the  state  central  committee  of 
Missouri,  unlike  that  of  Indiana,  a  direct  creation  of 
the  state  convention.  More  striking,  however,  is  the 
difference  in  the  constitution  of  the  congressional 
district  committee  in  the  two  States.  In  Indiana,  the 
chairmen  of  the  county  committees  compose  the  dis- 
trict committee,  and  a  member  of  the  state  committee 
is  its  chairman,  while  the  committee  as  a  whole  has 
few  duties.  The  Missouri  district  committee  has  an 
independent  membership,  and  its  members  are  not 
members  of  the  county  committees.    It  elects  its  own 

183 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 


chairman,  and  its  importance  among  the  working 
forces  of  the  party  is  accounted  scarcely  less  than  that 
of  the  state  committee.  During  the  years  in  which 
members  of  Congress  are  elected,  the  party  business 
is  partitioned  between  the  two  committees,  the  con- 
gressional committee  having  charge  of  the  congres- 
sional campaign,  while  the  state  committee  looks  after 
the  success  of  the  other  candidates.  The  county  com- 
mittee serves  as  an  organ  of  the  state  committee, 
while  the  congressional  committee  works  through  the 
local  committeemen  in  the  townships  and  school  dis- 
tricts. 

These  local  committees  are,  therefore,  under  di- 
rection from  two  sources,  the  one  having  in  view 
the  one  purpose  of  sending  a  representative  of  the 
party  to  Congress,  the  other  seeking  to  secure  the 
filling  of  all  the  other  offices  in  the  State  with  members 
of  the  party.  The  system  extends  the  dual  organiza- 
tion of  the  party,  seen  in  its  two  coordinate  national 
committees,  through  the  congressional  district  to  the 
township.  In  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  and  Indi- 
ana, there  are  found  only  two  party  committees  of 
prime  importance ;  in  Missouri,  there  are  four  ful- 
filling distinct  and  essential  party  functions,  viz.,  the 
state  and  county  committees  laboring  for  the  success 
of  the  general  ticket,  and  the  district  and  township 
committees  supporting  the  congressional  ticket. 

Much  has  been  said  as  to  the  relation  of  government 
patronage  to  senatorial  leadership  in  state  politics. 
Missouri  furnishes  an  example  of  such  leadership  long 
remaining  in  the  same  hands  and  receiving  little  aid 
from  the  spoils  of  Federal  office.    Soon  after  the  State 

184 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   IN   MISSOURI 

became  Democratic,  Senators  Cockrell  and  Vest  came 
forward  as  permanent  party  leaders.  Their  position 
has  been  maintained  as  successfully  and  as  effectively 
as  in  those  States  which  have  enjoyed  Federal  as- 
sistance. 

In  Missouri  all  party  platforms  and  some  of  the  proceedings  of 
state  conventions  are  printed  by  the  Secretary  of  State  among 
public  documents. 

An  excellent  summary  of  the  position  of  the  State  in  its  rela- 
tion to  the  Civil  War  and  reconstruction  is  found  in  an  article  by 
S.  B.  Harding  entitled  "Missouri  Party  Struggles  in  the  Civil 
War,"  American  Historical  Association,  1900,  Vol.  I,  pp.  85-103. 


185 


CHAPTER  XV 

PARTY  ORGANIZATION  IN   THE   SOUTH 

Ten  of  the  eleven  States  formerly  composing  the 
Southern  Confederacy  are  in  a  condition  which,  from 
the  standpoint  of  party  organization,  is  abnormal. 
Tennessee,  though  a  member  of  the  Confederacy,  was 
restored  to  its  place  in  the  Union  without  having  been 
subjected  to  protracted  military  rule,  and  has,  there- 
fore, passed  through  a  different  course  of  experience. 
In  respect  to  party  conditions,  it  may  be  classed  with 
the  border  States,  and  in  Tennessee,  as  in  Kentucky 
or  Maryland,  the  Republican  party  performs  more 
nearly  the  normal  functions  of  a  minority  party. 

The  ten  Confederate  States  present  a  great  variety 
of  political  conditions,  yet  they  are  substantially  alike 
in  the  prominence  given  to  one  controlling  purpose. 
All  are  dominated  by  the  Democratic  party,  which  has 
become,  both  ostensibly  and  for  the  most  part  actually, 
the  white  man's  party.  In  each  State  the  feeble  Re- 
publican opposition  receives  its  chief  numerical  sup- 
port from  the  negroes.  In  States  whose  negro  pop- 
ulation outnumbers  the  white,  the  more  intelligent, 
powerful,  and  skilful  race  has  found  it  possible,  by 
one  means  or  another,  to  overcome  the  majority, 
and  maintain  political   control.     The   essential   con- 

186 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   IN   THE   SOUTH 


ditions  of  successful  government  by  party  are  want- 
ing. There  are  no  fairly  balanced  party  forces,  and 
this  because  there  is  no  free  voting  constituency 
to  which  the  tw^o  parties  have  access  upon  equal  terms, 
and  to  ^vhich  each  "may  appeal  by  argument  in  fair 
debate  for  political  support.  Instead,  are  two  sharply 
distinguished  constituencies,  one  of  which  belongs,  as  it 
were  of  right,  to  the  Democratic  party,  and  the  other 
to  the  Republican.  The  former  party,  having  the  com- 
mand of  the  sources  of  political  power,  is,  in  effect,  the 
actual  government  of  the  States,  and,  under  the  guise 
of  party,  has  supplanted  both  the  former  state  govern- 
ments and  true  party  government  also.  In  neither 
party  is  found  a  true  party  life  w4th  a  controlling, 
conscious,  corporate  responsibility ;  and  the  anomalous 
situation  persists  in  spite  of  honest  endeavors  upon 
both  sides  to  correct  obvious  abuses  and  bring  about 
more  wholesome  relations. 

The  Southern  people  have,  by  nature  and  training, 
a  peculiar  fondness  and  facility  for  political  contro- 
versy. In  the  more  isolated  life  of  that  section,  politics 
fills,  and  has  always  filled,  a  relatively  larger  place  than 
in  the  North,  where  interests  are  more  diversified.  Nat- 
ural inclination  w^ould  lead  the  South  to  take  keen  de- 
light in  recurring  political  contests  with  foemen 
worthy  of  their  steel,  and  the  lack  of  those  opportuni- 
ties for  fair  and  manly  combat,  such  as  normal  party 
relations  afford,  has  diverted  into  less  benificent  chan- 
nels the  exercise  of  tireless  energies  and  noble  gifts. 
Historical  reasons  are  obvious  for  the  unhappy  con- 
ditions. 

Party  government  by  force  of  arms  is  a  contradic- 

187 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

tion  in  terms.  So  long  even  as  a  considerable  body  of 
citizens  seriously  consider  the  possibility  of  an  appeal 
to  arms  in  the  settlement  of  political  disputes,  there  is 
no  such  thing  as  normal  party  government.  Govern- 
ment by  means  of  an  army  and  government  by  organ- 
ized, responsible  political  parties  can  never  coexist  in 
the  same  state.  In  Spanish  America,  where  armed 
forces  frequently  confront  each  other  after  an  election, 
there  is  no  true  party  government.  Before  the  out- 
break of  our  own  Civil  War,  national  parties  had  been 
displaced  by  sectional  factions,  and  in  ten  of  the  States, 
even  the  lapse  of  nearly  half  a  century  has  not  restored 
normal  party  relations.  In  those  ten  States,  the  first 
government  set  up  after  the  war  was  military  in  char- 
acter, and  parties  were,  of  course,  in  abeyance.  If  no 
other  question  had  been  involved  in  the  settlement  of 
Southern  affairs  than  the  prolongation  of  military  rule 
for  a  few  years  after  the  close  of  a  war  attended  with 
exceptionally  intense  personal  feeling,  probably  no 
lasting  political  animosities  would  have  resulted.  But 
unhappily,  the  name  of  a  political  party  became  asso- 
ciated, not  only  with  protracted  military  control,  but 
also  with  an  attempt  to  create  out  of  the  newly  eman- 
cipated negro  race  a  partizan  voting  constituency. 

No  effort  is  here  made  to  state  the  actual  intentions 
of  the  Republican  leaders  of  the  time.  Party  condi- 
tions in  the  South  are  to  be  accounted  for  by  Southern, 
not  by  Northern,  opinion.  Southern  leaders  always 
saw  in  the  coexistence  of  races  their  most  trying  prob- 
lem, and  to  solve  this  was  the  chief  reason  for  forming 
the  Confederacy.  Their  gloomiest  predictions  seemed 
justified  when  they  saw  themselves  disfranchised,  and 

188 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   IN    THE   SOUTH 

their  state  governments  given  over  to  their  enfran- 
chised slaves,  who  were,  in  some  cases,  led  by  Northern 
Republicans. 

To  this  connection  of  the  party  name  with  the  at- 
tempt to  govern  the  white  race  by  means  of  the  votes 
of  the  previously  subject  colored  race  is  to  be  as- 
cribed the  long  continuance  of  the  unnatural  state 
of  the  party  system  in  the  South. 

Race  descent  is  a  matter  of  fact :  a  political  party  is 
an  organ  of  opinion :  party  lines  and  race  lines,  there- 
fore, do  not  naturally  coincide.  It  is  not  always  easy 
to  recognize  the  essential  distinction  between  race  and 
party.  In  the  days  of  the  Know-nothing  movement, 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  an  Irishman  was 
presumably  a  Democrat,  largely  because  the  Demo- 
cratic party  favored  a  more  liberal  policy  in  the  treat- 
ment of  immigrants  than  did  the  Whigs.  This  reason, 
reinforced  by  others,  gave  the  Democrats  practical 
control  of  the  Irish  vote ;  but  it  was  altogether  a  differ- 
ent thing  from  seeking  to  form  a  party  upon  the  bare 
fact  of  race  distinction.  Party  division  was  based 
upon  a  disputed  policy,  which,  at  the  time,  affected  in 
a  peculiar  way  one  race  or  one  class.  The  alliance  of 
race  with  party  was  only  temporary  and  incidental. 
Germans,  Bohemians,  or  Italians  living  together  in 
large  numbers  in  an  American  State  are  apt  to  vote 
together  with  one  or  the  other  of  the  political  parties ; 
but,  under  normal  conditions,  this  massing  of  a  race 
vote  is  determined  in  view  of  definite  political  ques- 
tions not  usually  permanent  in  character. 

The  present  relation  of  the  Irish  people  to  the  Brit- 
ish government  may  be  used  to  illustrate  this  distinc- 

189 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

tion.  The  so-called  Home  Rule  party  in  Ireland  is 
not  a  political  party  in  the  sense  in  which  the  term  is 
applied  to  Liberals  and  Tories,  or  Conservatives.  For 
many  centuries  the  English  have  treated  the  Irish  as 
a  subject  people,  but  a  few  years  ago  the  Irish  were 
enfranchised.  Of  this  change  in  relations  the  Home 
Rule  party  is  one  of  the  results.  Though  it  is  called 
a  political  party,  the  Irish  leaders  are  themselves  sub- 
ject to  no  delusions  as  to  the  facts.  They  have  never 
intended  that  their  organization  should  exercise  the 
functions  of  a  political  party.  It  is  a  substitute  for 
civil  war.  Its  purpose  and  mission  is  to  obstruct,  to 
intimidate,  to  make  party  government  for  England 
difficult  or  impossible  until  the  Irish  shall  have  gained 
control  of  their  own  local  affairs.  Irish  leaders 
frankly  confess  that,  when  the  end  has  been  secured, 
the  Irish  party  will  disappear  and  their  people  will 
then  divide  along  true  party  lines  as  do  the  English 
and  the  Scotch.  The  intense  political  antagonisms 
existing  between  English  and  Irish  are  an  artificial 
product,  not  due  to  elemental  race  differences — Teu- 
tons and  Celts  were  not  so  very  long  ago  severed  from 
the  common  parent  stock,  and  English  and  Scotch 
or  English  and  Welsh  are  no  longer  affected  by  race 
antipathy.  The  centuries  of  special  and  exasperating 
treatment  have  set  the  Irish  apart  from  their  rulers, 
and  it  is  history  rather  than  blood  that  separates  them. 
In  the  case  of  Ireland  the  so-called  race  conflict  is 
of  political  origin.  But  there  is,  in  the  Southern 
States,  a  conflict  of  races  based  upon  more  permanent 
causes— upon  wide  diversity  in  blood,  in  physical 
and  mental  characteristics,  in  history  and  traditions, 

190 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   IN   THE   SOUTH 

and,  as  many  Southerners  firmly  believe,  in  capacity 
for  improvement.  For  many  generations  one  race 
has  been  looked  upon  by  the  other  as  essentially 
inferior  and,  by  the  fiat  of  nature,  forever  subordinate. 
Violent  attempts  to  overthrow  time-honored  rela- 
tions and  to  substitute  suddenly  a  political  equality 
revolting  to  the  haughty  slave-holding  class  could 
not  but  arouse  resistance  and  bitterly  intensify  race 
feeling. 

Northern  men  who  favored  the  ballot  for  emanci- 
pated negroes  anticipated  the  restoration  of  natural 
party  relations.  They  expected  that  after  a  time  the 
parties  would  both  appeal  for  the  negro  vote,  and  that 
a  normal  division  of  that  vote  between  the  parties 
would  result.  There  was  no  deliberate  intention  to 
mass  the  colored  voters  against  the  white  and  subject 
the  superior  race  to  the  political  domination  of  the  in- 
ferior. The  movement  which  grew  up  among  liberal 
Republicans  and  commanded  sufficiently  wide  appro- 
val to  lead,  later  on,  to  the  nomination  of  Greeley  and 
the  acceptance  of  his  candidacy  by  the  Democrats  on  a 
platform  of  universal  suffrage,  coupled  with  universal 
amnesty,  is  evidence  of  this.  The  white  voters  of  the 
South  were,  in  fact,  divided  between  the  parties,  and 
the  negroes  were  also  divided,  to  a  limited  extent,  and 
there  was  much  apparent  progress  toward  the  restora- 
tion of  normal  party  lines.  But  adverse  tendencies 
finally  prevailed,  and  the  Republican  rule,  which  had 
begun  by  the  use  of  force,  ended  in  the  use  of  force 
and  other  revolutionary  agencies.  At  no  time  was  that 
rule,  in  any  proper  sense,  a  party  government,  because 
there  was  always  involved  either  the  actual  or  the  con- 

191 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND  MACHINERY 

templated  employment  of  an  army  to  uphold  the 
Republican  state  governments. 

In  some  of  the  States  of  the  former  Confederacy  the 
negro  vote  outnumbered  that  of  the  whites,  and  in  all 
of  them  it  was  so  large  that,  in  any  true  party  division, 
it  would  determine  the  election.  A  negro  vote,  then, 
massed  in  one  party,  meant  continued  party  rule 
dependent  upon  race  support,  and  the  rise  of  the 
Democrats  to  power  involved  the  suppression  or  elimi- 
nation of  the  negro  vote  in  most  of  the  States.  The 
organizations  set  up  on  the  ruins  of  Republican  do- 
minion in  the  South  resembled  rather  the  Irish  Home 
Rule  league  than  a  political  party,  though  they  bore 
the  name  of  one  of  the  great  national  organizations. 
There  was  still  hope  that  the  use  of  revolutionary 
methods  in  political  affairs  would  be  but  temporary, 
and  the  country  looked  for  the  speedy  return  of  hap- 
pier conditions. 

No  two  States  passed  by  the  same  transition  steps 
from  Republican  to  Democratic  rule.  In  South  Caro- 
lina, men  who  had  been  Confederate  leaders  appealed, 
with  a  large  measure  of  success,  to  the  negro  voter  to 
assist  in  ridding  the  State  of  the  abuses  that  had 
grown  and  flourished  under  Republican  supremacy. 
Similar  efforts  were  made  in  other  States.  The  legiti- 
mate instrumentality  of  public  discussion  was  brought 
into  play  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  to  power  the 
good  old  Democratic  party  of  former  days,  and  the 
new  colored  electorate  was  instructed  as  to  the  superior 
claims  of  that  venerable  political  organ.  There  was 
even  a  fair  prospect  that  the  party  would  succeed 
in  winning  and  holding  a  reasonable  share  of  the  negro 

192 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  IN   THE   SOUTH 

vote.  The  printed  rules  of  the  Democratic  State  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  of  South  Carolina,  adopted  March 
21,  1902,  for  the  control  of  primary  elections,  furnish 
evidence  that,  ever  since  1876,  there  have  been  Demo- 
cratic negroes  receiving  official  recognition.  The  first 
rule  defining  qualifications  for  membership  in  a  Demo- 
cratic club  declares  that  the  applicant  shall  be  a 
white  Democrat  or  a  negro  who  had  voted  for  General 
Hampton  in  1876,  and  has  voted  the  Democratic  ticket 
continuously  since.  Rule  II  reads :  ' '  Every  negro  ap- 
plying for  membership  in  a  Democratic  club,  or  offer- 
ing to  vote  in  a  Democratic  primary  election,  must 
produce  a  written  statement  of  ten  reputable  white 
men  who  shall  swear  that  they  know  of  their  own 
knowledge  that  the  applicant,  or  voter,  voted  for  Gen- 
eral Hampton  in  1876  and  has  voted  the  Democratic 
ticket  continuously  since."  This  form  of  words  ap- 
pears in  many  places  in  the  printed  rules,  and  stands 
as  a  landmark  for  the  second  important  attempt  to 
solve  the  race  problem  upon  liberal  principles. 

Unfortunately  this  effort  failed,  as  did  the  first,  and 
the  Democrats  relapsed  into  revolutionary  methods 
for  overcoming  the  hostile  negro  vote.  The  result  has 
been  that  throughout  the  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  of  the  continuous  ascendancy  of  that  party  in 
the  South,  the  tendency  to  associate  the  name  with 
race  prejudice  and  race  distinctions  has  constantly  in- 
creased. In  most  of  the  States  the  Democratic  party  is 
a  white  man's  party,  and  a  negro  is  presumed  to  be  a 
Republican.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  has  never  been  true 
that  the  negroes  are  the  only  Republicans  in  these 
States.  There  has  always  been  a  considerable  class  of 
13  193 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

white  men  who  have  adhered  to  the  minority  party, 
and  at  times  they  have  taken  the  field  in  earnest 
struggle  with  the  Democrats  for  the  control  of  their 
States.  Then  hope  has  momentarily  revived,  only  to 
be  again  cast  down  by  the  menace  of  the  massed  race- 
vote  ever  in  the  background,  and,  except  for  a  few 
brief  intervals,  the  white  man's  party  has  preserved 
undisputed  control. 

The  Democratic  party  in  the  ten  Southern  States 
has  thus  come  to  be  an  aggregation  of  white  citizens 
organized  to  maintain  continued  ascendancy  in  state 
and  local  government.  It  lacks  an  essential  charac- 
teristic of  political  parties  in  a  free  democracy,  in  that 
it  does  not  rest  its  claim  to  such  dominion  upon  the 
unrestrained  choice  of  a  free  voting  constituency.  It 
is  organized,  not  to  debate,  Hut  to  govern.  As  a 
political  party,  it  makes  and  enforces  party  rules 
which  have  the  force  of  law,  and  the  power  of  the 
State  is  thus  made  to  contribute  to  the  strengthening 
of  the  party's  hold  upon  the  State.  In  the  State  of 
Mississippi,  a  law  was  passed  in  1903,  which  provides 
for  the  nomination  of  all  the  important  candidates 
for  whom  the  people  of  the  State  are  empowered  to 
vote,  and  also  of  candidates  for  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  at  a  party  primary  election.  According 
to  this  statute,  candidates  whose  names  are  printed 
on  the  official  ballot,  which  the  State  provides,  must 
be  nominated  at  a  party  primary.  In  terms,  the  law 
is  made  applicable  to  all  political  parties  alike ;  but 
only  one  party  in  the  State  has  the  machinery  or  can 
afford  the  expense  of  holding  such  an  election.  So 
it  happens  that  the  primary  election,  which,  in  legal 

194 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   IN   THE    SOUTH 

form  merely  nominates  Democratic  candidates  for  of- 
fice, is,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  voter,  the  real  elec- 
tion whereby  local,  state,  and  congressional  officers 
are  placed  in  positions  of  responsibility  and  power. 
It  is,  in  fact,  the  one  election  of  importance  in  the 
State,  and  the  law  leaves  entirely  to  the  decision  of 
party  officers  the  question  who  shall  be  considered 
qualified  to  cast  a  vote.  In  Massachusetts  the  law 
compels  party  officers  to  admit  to  party  privileges 
rejected  persons;  in  other  States,  all  questions  of 
membership  are  left  to  party  authorities.  It  is  the 
policy  of  Mississippi  and  other  States  of  the  same  class 
to  encourage  all  white  voters  to  participate  in  the 
party  primary,  while  excluding,  for  the  most  part,  all 
those  of  color,  thus  making  the  voting  privilege  wholly 
a  party  matter.  Party  officials  have  entire  charge  of 
registration,  the  preparation  of  ballots,  and  the  re- 
ceiving and  counting  of  votes. 

In  Mississippi,  the  party  action  which  results  in  the 
election  of  the  chief  officers  of  government  is  pre- 
scribed by  a  state  law.  In  other  States,  the  same  object 
is  attained  by  the  application  of  party  rules,  the  prac- 
tical outcome  as  to  negro  suffrage  being  the  same. 
Party  rules  provide  for  the  nomination  of  candidates 
at  a  primary  election  with  as  much  detail  as  in  the 
Mississippi  statute ;  and  this  legislation  by  party  con- 
vention or  committee  proves  as  effective  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  State  as  the  acts  of  the  legislature.  The 
party  organ  itself  assumes  and  exercises  the  preroga- 
tives of  a  state  government. 

A  Democratic  convention  held  in  Columbia,  South 
Carolina,  in  May,  1902,  adopted  a  party  constitution 

195 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

consisting  of  fifteen  articles.  That  constitution  re- 
quires the  organization  of  one  or  more  Democratic 
clubs  in  each  township  and  ward  of  the  State  for  the 
holding,  at  specified  dates,  of  club  meetings  to  elect 
delegates  to  county  conventions.  It  designates  the 
time  of  holding  county  and  state  conventions,  and 
provides  for  electing  county  and  state  executive  com- 
mittees. For  the  nomination  of  candidates  for  office, 
this  party  constitution  makes  provisions  almost  iden- 
tical with  those  of  the  Mississippi  primary  election 
laws.  Party  conventions  are  not  called  to  make  nom- 
inations, but  to  elect  party  officers  and  adopt  rules 
for  party  government.  The  convention  is  a  quasi- 
legislative  assembly.  The  committees  for  which  the 
constitution  provides  adopt  the  minor  rules ;  and  alto- 
gether, a  complete  system  of  county,  state,  and  con- 
gressional elections  is  set  forth  under  the  name  and 
style  of  party  nomination.  The  state  constitution 
and  the  state  laws  are  made  to  harmonize  with  this 
party  scheme  of  government. 

Other  methods  are  in  use  for  maintaining  the  as- 
cendancy of  the  one  party  in  the  other  States  once 
included  in  the  Confederacy;  but  in  all  of  them  the 
party  in  power  exercises  the  prerogatives  of  a  state 
government  and  practically  displaces  the  State. 

Mississippi  and  other  Southern  States  which  have 
adopted  the  primary  election  system  of  filling  state 
offices  have  solved  the  problem  of  the  popular  election 
of  United  States  senators.  The-  candidates  for  the 
Senate  are  voted  for  along  with  those  for  other  offices, 
and  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  members  of  the  state 
legislature  to  cast  their  votes  according  to  the  mandate 

19G 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   IN   THE   SOUTH 

of  the  primary.  In  South  Carolina,  the  candidates  for 
the  legislature  are  placed  under  oath  to  abide  by  the 
results  of  the  primary,  and  the  senatorial  candidate 
who  secures  a  majority  at  the  primary  election  is 
apparently  as  sure  of  his  position  as  is  the  candidate 
for  the  Presidency  for  whom  a  majority  of  the  electors 
chosen  at  the  November  election  are  already  pledged 
to  vote. 

An  organization  under  the  Republican  name  has, 
nevertheless,  been  kept  continuously  alive  in  all  these 
States,  and  in  almost  every  one  of  them  some  localities 
haveT'emained  Republican.  Indeed,  a  large  aggregate 
number  of  white  persons  within  the  Confederate  boun- 
daries have  remained  loyal  to  the  national  Republican 
party,  and  a  much  larger  number  who  vote  with  the 
Democrats  would  like  to  see  normal  party  conditions 
restored.  The  Republican  party  suffers  much  from  its 
close  association  with  the  spoils  of  Federal  office.  It 
has  been  made  to  appear  in  the  South  as  a  party  of 
office-holders  without  a  voting  constituency.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Democratic  party  is  under  serious 
disadvantages  because  it  is  not  confronted  by  a  strong 
competing  organization.  A  narrow  body  of  office- 
holders and  candidates  control  the  organization,  and 
become  selfishly  interested  in  perpetuating  the  abnor- 
mal condition  in  state  and  local  government.  Thus 
Democrats  are  controlled  by  one  limited  office-holding 
class  and  Republicans  by  another,  with  even  a  sug- 
gestion of  conspiracy  between  the  office-holding  groups 
in  the  two  parties.  Present  conditions  are  satisfactory 
to  neither  party  and  to  neither  race. 


197 


CHAPTER  XVI 

EFFECT   OF   THE   CITY   UPON    THE   PARTY   SYSTEM 

A  PAMPHLET  of  twenty-eight  pages  issued  by  Tam- 
many Hall  in  1904  contains  the  '*  Rules  and  Regula- 
tions of  the  Democratic-Republican  Organization  of 
the  County  of  New  York."  The  name  of  the  organi- 
zation carries  us  back  to  the  days  of  Jefferson,  when 
the  title,  Democratic,  was  tempered  by  the  milder 
term,  Republican.  The  central  organ  of  the  Tammany 
party  consists  of  "A  County  General  Committee  to 
be  known  as  the  Democratic-Republican  General  Com- 
mittee of  the  County  of  New  York. ' '  This  committee 
is  made  up  of  delegates  from  the  thirty-five  assembly 
districts,  one  delegate  being  chosen  for  every  twenty- 
five  Democratic  voters.  It  numbers  between  seven 
and  eight  thousand  members.  To  this  large  body  is 
intrusted  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  party. 
It  holds  regular  monthly  meetings,  and  a  majority 
constitutes  a  quorum.  An  executive  committee  is 
composed  of  one  member  from  each  of  the  thirty-five 
assembly  districts  together  with  certain  ex  officio 
members.  According  to  the  rules,  this  committee  is 
restricted  by  and  subordinate  to  the  general  committee. 
' '  The  action  of  the  committee  shall  in  no  case  be  final, 
but  it  shall  report  its  conclusions  and  recommenda- 

198 


EFFECT  OF  THE  CITY  UPON  PARTY  SYSTEM 

tions  to  the  county  committee  from  time  to  time." 
Besides  the  executive  committee  there  are  standing 
committees  on  law,  printing,  election  of  officers,  public 
meetings  and  rules,  six  in  all. 

The  especially  striking  thing  about  this  organization 
is  the  centralization  of  power  in  the  hands  of  one  com- 
mittee of  nearly  eight  thousand  members,  each  com- 
mitteeman representing  twenty-five  members  of  the 
party.  So  large  a  committee  charged  with  the  direct 
control  of  matters  of  such  magnitude  and  variety  of 
detail,  furnishes  a  field  for  the  operations  of  the  per- 
sonal manager  to  give  the  necessary  unity  and  effi- 
ciency. Tammany  Hall  has  no  hierarchy  of  commit- 
tees corresponding  to  local  political  institutions.  So 
far  as  the  organization  is  concerned  the  assembly  dis- 
trict is  a  mere  geographical  area  for  registering  and 
counting  voters.  Tammany  is  an  organization  of  men, 
and  the  one  governmental  act  which  directly  affects 
membership  is  the  act  of  voting.  The  convention  is 
remanded  to  an  inferior  position.  It  is  not  from  the 
convention  that  the  rules  profess  to  emanate ;  they  are 
enacted  by  the  committee  and  the  committee  prescribes 
rules  for  the  conduct  of  the  convention.  The  commit- 
tee is  itself  a  sort  of  monthly  delegate  convention. 

A  corresponding  organization  governs  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  under  the  title  of  ' '  The  Republican  Party 
in  the  City  and  County  of  Philadelphia."  In  form 
it  is  much  more  complex  than  that  of  Tammany  Hall. 
The  rules  for  its  government  emanate  not  from  a  com- 
mittee but  from  a  city  convention.  Three  grades  ap- 
pear in  the  hierarchy  of  party  officers.  1.  The 
precinct,    or   division,    officers   consist    of   president, 

199 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

secretary,  and  treasurer,  elected  at  the  party  caucus, 
or  primary,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  April  in  each  year, 
and  two  registering  officials.  Together  they  form  a 
Board  of  Registration  officers,  and  their  prescribed 
duties  pertain  chiefly  to  registration  of  voters  and 
matters  connected  with  the  primary  elections.  2.  The 
ward  executive  committee  is  composed  of  two  repre- 
sentatives from  each  precinct,  or  division,  chosen  at 
the  regular  primary  election  held  the  third  Tuesday 
in  February  in  each  year.  3.  The  w^ard  committee, 
upon  its  organization  on  the  Friday  following  its 
election,  is  required  to  elect  a  member  of  the  Republi- 
can campaign  committee.  On  the  following  Monday 
this  committee  meets  and  chooses  its  permanent  offi- 
cers. 

Philadelphia  is  divided  into  forty-two  wards  and 
nearly  eleven  hundred  districts.  The  smallest  ward 
committee  numbers  eighteen,  the  largest,  ninety-four. 
The  city  central  committee,  called  the  campaign  com- 
mittee, has  eighty-four  members,  and  the  entire  num- 
ber of  officers  in  all  the  committees  is  considerably 
smaller  than  that  in  the  general  committee  of  the 
Tammany  organization. 

Party  harmony  is  provided  for  in  the  Philadelphia 
rules  by  conferring  upon  the  city  campaign  com- 
mittee complete  authority  for  the  settlement  of  party 
disputes  in  the  wards,  and  upon  the  ward  committees 
corresponding  authority  over  the  precincts.  Opposi- 
tion by  any  precinct  officer  to  any  candidate  of  the 
party  serves,  according  to  Rule  II.,  forthwith  to  vacate 
his  office.  By  Rule  VI.,  section  7,  all  candidates  for 
nomination  are  required,  twenty-four  hours  before  the 

200 


EFFECT  OF  THE  CITY  UPON  PARTY  SYSTEM 

primary,  to  register  a  pledge  with  a  party  official  to 
support  the  party  nominees. 

The  subject  of  this  chapter  does  not  include  a  de- 
scription of  the  special  party  methods  peculiar  to  large 
cities.  It  is  not  a  study  in  party  pathology,  but  deals 
rather  with  normal  party  conduct.  It  has  to  do,  there- 
fore, with  city  politics  only  so  far  as  it  alf ects  or  illus- 
trates the  general  party  system. 

Our  city  population  has  increased  far  more  rapidly 
than  that  of  the  rural  portions  of  the  country ;  but  it 
still  remains  true  that  the  great  majority  of  the  people 
of  the  United  States  live  on  the  farms  and  in  the  small 
towns  and  cities.  It  is  the  dwellers  in  the  country, 
the  villages,  and  boroughs,  and  small  cities,  who  have 
hitherto  shaped  our  political  institutions.  In  most 
States,  as  has  been  shown,  party  organs  have  been  run 
in  the  mold  of  the  county,  and  the  typical  American 
county  is  chiefly  rural.  Its  subdivisions  are  townships, 
and  precincts,  and  school  districts.  If  there  is  an 
urban  population  divided  into  wards,  the  ward  takes 
the  place  of  the  township  in  party  machinery.  If  it 
happens  that  in  a  single  county  the  representatives 
from  the  wards  overshadow  the  rural  delegates  in 
county  convention,  the  case  is  exceptional,  and  the 
state  organization  remains  based  upon  the  type  of 
county  which  is  not  exceptional  but  common.  When, 
however,  the  city  population  becomes  so  large  as  to 
outnumber  in  any  State  a  large  proportion  of  the 
counties,  then,  indeed,  something  distinct  and  definite 
in  party  machinery  is  presented  which  is  of  sufficient 
importance  to  affect  decidedly  the  general  system. 
Even  the  existence  of  small  cities  and  boroughs  has 

201 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

necessitated  modifications  in  the  machinery  of  the 
parties. 

In  a  strictly  rural  township  where  all  the  people 
live  apart  upon  farms,  required  registration  of  voters 
has  the  appearance  of  an  absurdity.  Each  voter  is 
known  to  every  other,  and  the  right  to  vote  may  be  as 
surely  determined  at  the  time  of  the  election  as  at  any 
other  time.  But  in  a  borough  or  small  city  electors 
will  present  themselves  who  are  strangers  to  election 
officers  and  bystanders,  and  it  is  apparent  that  govern- 
mental and  party  machinery  must  be  provided  for 
determining  the  qualifications  of  electors  and  guard- 
ing the  purity  of  elections.  In  any  case  the  city,  large 
or  small,  enormously  increases  the  variety  and  amount 
of  governmental  business,  and  demands  a  correspond- 
ing multiplication  of  the  political  and  party  agencies. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  population  of  the 
ordinary  county  is  neither  chiefly  urban  nor  wholly 
rural.  City  and  country  life  go  on  side  by  side.  The 
increased  development  of  party  machinery  in  what 
has  been  called  the  highly  organized  county  is  due  to 
the  combination  of  city  and  country  agencies  in  the 
same  organization.  The  urban  population  has  fur- 
nished the  organizing  experience,  while  that  of  the 
more  widely  separated  townships  has  placed  an  ef- 
fective check  upon  tendencies  to  centralization  in  the 
party  which  have  appeared  in  the  cities. 

The  union  of  party  agencies  centering  in  the  bor- 
oughs and  small  cities  with  those  of  the  rural  districts 
is,  to  a  great  extent,  responsible  for  the  sense  of  cor- 
porate unity  prevailing  in  the  county.  This  corporate 
consciousness  reaches  its  highest  development  in  the 

202 


EFFECT  OF  THE  CITY  UPON  PARTY  SYSTEM 

city  of  considerable  size  when  it  is  also  composed  of 
a  homogeneous  population.  Such  a  city  emphasizes 
and  strengthens  the  wholesome  principles  most  effec- 
tive in  county  organization, — principles  of  association 
and  mutual  consideration  for  the  sake  of  interests  gen- 
eral rather  than  personal.  Its  inhabitants  necessarily 
come  to  realize  their  common  dependence  upon  a  pub- 
lic supply  of  water,  light,  and  facilities  for  transpor- 
tation; personal  acquaintance  is  widely  extended; 
practically  the  entire  city  feels  a  sort  of  acquaintance, 
at  least  with  the  mayor  and  the  other  officers  of  the 
city  government;  public  opinion  is  active,  and  all 
public  officials  are  constantly  influenced  by  a  regard 
for  the  personal  judgments  of  their  fellow-citizens. 
While  the  population  remains  homogeneous  there  are 
scarcely  any  assignable  limits  to  which  a  city  may  not 
grow  without  giving  rise  to  extraordinary  problems. 
But  the  same  industrial  changes  which  have  pro- 
moted the  enormous  increase  of  the  city  population 
have  also  tended  to  the  formation  of  classes  with  con- 
flicting interests.  This  has  affected  political  agencies 
of  every  sort,  but  its  effects  have  been  especially  ap- 
parent in  the  large  cities.  Not  only  has  conflict  of  in- 
terest divided  the  people,  but  the  criminal  classes  have 
greatly  increased  in  number;  the  dependent  poor  are 
more  numerous;  foreigners  ignorant  of  American  in- 
stitutions multiply;  all  conditions  contribute  to  make 
the  daily  business  of  governing  most  complicated  and 
difficult.  In  such  a  city  the  great  body  of  the  people 
are  personally  unacquainted.  Lack  of  acquaintance 
between  the  classes,  with  consequent  lack  of  under- 
standing   and    sympathy,    continually    widens    their 

203 


PARTY  ORGANIZATION   AND  MACHINERY 

separation  and  renders  the  divergence  of  interests  ever 
greater;  they  come  to  live  in  different  worlds;  their 
ideals  of  life  and  government  differ  as  do  their  per- 
sonal needs;  regard  for  public  opinion  ceases  to  act 
with  its  normal  force  upon  the  servants  of  the  public 
as  a  motive  to  uprightness  in  official  conduct;  public 
opinion  itself  loses  coherence  and  speaks  with  uncer- 
tain utterance,  so  that  the  very  foundation  of  free 
government  is  threatened.  While  the  institutions  of 
the  small  city  in  combination  with  those  of  the  coun- 
try foster  the  sense  of  corporate  oneness  in  a  way  to 
invigorate  the  potency  of  public  sentiment,  the  over- 
grown city  severed  from  the  country  tends  to  forestall 
the  development  of  an  intelligent  corporate  experience 
with  its  concomitant,  a  lively  and  aggressive  public 
opinion. 

In  the  title  assumed  by  the  ruling  party  of  the  city 
of  New  York  the  word  county  appears.  New  York 
city  and  county  are  merged  into  one,  and  in  its  relation 
to  state  government  the  city  takes  the  place  of  the 
county.  A  county  which  is  all  city  and  which  has  a 
population  equal  to  that  of  all  the  rest  of  the  State, 
must  inevitably  affect  profoundly  the  politics  of  the 
whole  State.  The  one  state  legislative  assembly  makes 
laws  for  all  of  the  counties.  But  the  needs  of  the 
great  city  of  New  York,  with  its  congested  and  hetero- 
geneous population,  are  altogether  outside  the  experi- 
ence of  the  other  counties.  The  country  member  of 
the  legislature  has  neither  the  interest  nor  the  know- 
ledge which  would  render  him  a  wise  lawgiver  for  the 
city.  On  the  other  hand,  the  member  from  the  great 
city  lacks,  in  a  measure,  the  acquaintance  with  rural 

204 


EFFECT  OF  THE  CITY  UPON  PARTY  SYSTEM 

conditions  and  needs  which  would  qualify  him  to  leg- 
islate acceptably  for  the  country.  Thus  an  extreme 
case  is  made  out  for  the  partition  of  governmental 
powers,  and  impetus  is  given  to  a  movement  demand- 
ing home  rule  for  cities. 

Because  of  their  peculiar  necessities  cities  have  been 
endowed  with  many  of  the  powers  of  an  independent 
government  with  separate  legislative,  executive,  and, 
to  a  limited  extent,  judicial  departments;  but  they 
cannot,  under  our  system,  be  wholly  severed  from  the 
State.  The  city  receives  it  constitution  from  the  state 
legislature  or  from  clauses  in  the  state  constitution. 
Within  certain  limits  the  legislature  must  make  laws 
for  the  control  of  the  cities,  and  the  city  has  full  rep- 
resentation in  the  legislature,  where  country  and  city 
members  meet. 

In  such  a  State  as  Iowa,  which  has  many  cities  but 
no  large  city,  conditions  are  favorable  for  securing  the 
full  advantage  from  the  experience  of  both  city  and 
country.  The  harmonious  assembly  is  well  fitted  to 
legislate  for  all  parts  of  the  State  alike.  Each  city 
makes  its  distinct  contribution  to  the  one  city  problem 
of  the  State,  while  the  rural  legislators  are  sufficiently 
familiar  with  the  requirements  of  the  small  cities  to 
act  intelligently  in  matters  especially  concerning  them. 
A  sense  of  corporate  unity  between  city  and  country 
penetrates  to  every  part  of  the  State  and  permeates  the 
whole  party  organization. 

Very  different  are  the  conditions  in  States  like  New 
York  and  Illinois.  Their  assemblies  are  not  harmoni- 
ous, and  can  never  be  made  so.  Legislators  from  the 
metropolis  are  in  a  class  apart.     Their  constituents 

205 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

have,  in  a  few  matters,  interests  in  common  with  those 
of  the  rest  of  the  State ;  but  their  concern  is  mainly 
for  the  interests  of  an  independent  municipality. 
Whether  the  great  city  is  governed  by  laws  made  by 
the  state  legislature  or  by  a  legislative  body  of  its  own, 
it  is  separate  and  apart  from  the  State  in  general.  Its 
governmental  business  differs  in  kind  and  quality  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  two  cannot  be  managed  by  the 
same  agencies.  The  politics  of  the  metropolis  is  not 
easily  harmonized  with  the  politics  of  the  State  and 
the  Nation. 

It  has  been  thus  far  the  peculiar  mission  of  the  dual 
party  system  to  harmonize  discordant  political  ele- 
ments in  the  body  politic.  In  England  the  rival  forces 
in  government— the  crown,  the  lords,  the  commons, 
and  the  democracy,  have  been  brought  into  harmoni- 
ous working  relations  by  means  of  the  party  system 
of  government.  In  America  a  vast  and  varied  array 
of  local  institutions  threatened  to  divide  the  people 
and  preclude  the  formation  of  a  united  nation.  It  can 
hardly  be  alleged  that  here  to  the  same  extent  as  in 
England,  the  party  system  has  been  the  one  essential 
agent  for  overcoming  the  effect  of  the  divisive  forces ; 
but  it  has  undoubtedly  been  among  the  most  effective 
and  the  most  obvious  of  the  influences  which  have 
worked  to  that  end.  The  use  of  the  national  party 
organs  for  the  election  of  the  President  has  clearly 
served  to  draw  together  the  people  of  the  whole  coun- 
try and  promote  harmony  of  feeling  and  action,  and 
like  results  have  attended  the  application  of  party 
machinery  to  the  governmental  business  of  the  States 
and  the  local  political  divisions.    But  serious  failure 

206 


EFFECT  OF  THE  CITY  UPON  PARTY  SYSTEM 

in  the  workiug  of  the  party  system  has  been  encoun- 
tered in  the  attempt  to  extend  the  use  of  party  methods 
to  the  government  of  the  great  cities,  — failure  so 
serious  as  critically  to  menace  the  very  existence  of  the 
system. 

The  great  metropolis  is  the  product  of  industrial, 
not  of  political,  causes.  The  peculiar  agglomerations 
of  discordant  and  discontented  classes,  and  the  unhar- 
monious  relations  between  the  governments  of  city 
and  State,  are  independent  facts.  It  is  trifling  with  a 
serious  subject  or  it  is  an  exhibition  of  culpable  stu- 
pidity to  lay  these  conditions  to  the  charge  of  the  party 
system  or  to  any  system  of  government.  Opinions, 
indeed,  may  well  differ  as  to  whether  the  political 
party  has  helped  more  than  it  has  hindered  in  the 
effort  to  grapple  with  the  portentous  problems  of  the 
city.  Exactly  what  instrumentalities  would  have  been 
employed  had  party  organs  been  wanting  it  is  not  easy 
to  see,  nor  is  it  necessary  to  speculate  upon  the  matter 
here.  By  means  of  the  established  party  system,  modi- 
fied, improved,  adapted  to  the  new  and  perplexing 
circumstances,  to  carry  on  clean,  orderly,  efficient,  and 
progressive  city  government,  or  by  opposing  to  end 
that  system  and  substitute  a  better— that  is  the  un- 
solved problem  of  the  great  city. 

The  organs  of  the  party  which  succeeds  in  con- 
trolling the  city  government  tend  to  become  so  strong 
and  so  thoroughly  intrenched  in  power  as  to  over- 
throw the  balance  of  the  two  parties  and  thus  destroy 
the  system.  Many  specific  features  of  city  life  con- 
tribute to  this  tendency.  The  beneficent  faculty  which 
the  party  has  been  seen   to  exercise   elsewhere   for 

207 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

uniting  those  whom  their  political  institutions  would 
otherwise  separate,  is  operative  here  also ;  but  its  ap- 
peal is  not  to  political  sentiment,  to  corporate  feeling, 
or  to  the  institutional  sense.  It  is  rather,  for  what  is 
known  as  the  masses  in  the  city,  to  personal,  individual 
feeling  or  to  race  or  class  proclivities  or  prejudices. 
The  great  city  has  no  institutions  which  keep  men 
apart.  The  ward  has  been  substituted  for  the  town- 
ship ;  but  the  familiar  acquaintance  of  the  township, 
its  corporate  life  and  spirit  have  been  left  behind.  A 
ward  is  simply  a  district  in  the  city  bounded  by  certain 
streets ;  it  stands  for  no  separate  and  individual  pow- 
ers of  government,  as  does  the  township ;  there  is 
never  any  such  thing  as  ward  spirit,  save  as  a  result 
of  personal  party  organization.  The  population  of  a 
ward  is  merely  an  aggregation  of  individual  men,  un- 
acquainted and  unrelated,  or  grouped  into  classes  by 
race,  or  industrial,  or  social  interests. 

While  the  city  is  on  a  par  with  the  State  in  the  quan- 
tity and  variety  of  governmental  service  required,  it  is 
without  the  local  institutions  which  train  men  in  gov- 
ernmental relations.  It  displaces  the  local  govern- 
ments of  township  and  county  but  supplies  no  corre- 
sponding agencies  for  elementary  instruction  in  good 
citizenship.  The  great  mass  of  the  voters  in  the  large 
city  are  devoid  of  all  training  fitted  to  give  them  the 
institutional  conception  of  government;— the  idea  of 
government  as  made  up  of  a  system  of  distinct  but  re- 
lated municipal  institutions,  such  as  are  seen  in  the 
ordinary  county ;  of  government  as  a  thing  above  and 
apart  from  an  organization  composed  of  individual 
men.     To  them  the  organization  which  attends  to  the 

208 


EFFECT   OF   THE   CITY    UPON   PARTY   SYSTEM 

enrolment  of  voters,  makes  nominations,  and  carries 
elections,  is  the  government;  apart  from  their  party 
they  know  no  government.  The  inexperienced  and  un- 
taught city  voter  looks  upon  a  rival  party  as  only  an 
opposing  competitor  for  power;  he  fails  to  grasp  the 
idea  of  two  coordinate,  independent,  rival  organiza- 
tions which  yet  act  jointly  as  agents  of  the  entire 
people  in  the  interest  of  good  government. 

Men  everywhere,  whether  in  city  or  in  country,  gain 
their  fundamental  ideas  of  government  from  the  or- 
ganizations that  are  nearest  to  them ; — that  touch  them 
at  the  greatest  number  of  points ;  that  affect  them  most 
obviously  and  personally.  To  the  rural  resident  these 
are  many;  he  is  familiar  with  the  school  district,  the 
highway  district,  the  town  or  township,  the  county, 
the  State,  and  with  the  Federal  government  at  least 
in  connection  with  the  postal  service.  It  is  not  possi- 
ble for  any  mere  organization  of  individuals,  any 
party  machinery  whatsoever,  to  rob  him  of  his  con- 
sciousness of  connection  with  a  wide  range  of  govern- 
mental instrumentalities  which  conditions  his  political 
thinking  and  is  recognized  as  the  ruling  factor  in  his 
political  life.  To  him  party  machinery  must  take  a 
subordinate  place.  The  uninstructed  masses  of  the 
city,  on  the  other  hand,  find  government  for  them  em- 
bodied in  a  policeman,  a  school  teacher,  a  street  com- 
missioner, or  some  other  official  person.  To  them  it 
is  possible  for  the  party  machine,  whose  individual 
ward  manager  they  know,  so  to  take  the  place  of 
government  as  to  render  any  clear  distinction  difficult 
or  impossible.  Upon  the  isolated  human  units  and  the 
politically  unrelated  groups  of  the  city  the  trained 
'*  209 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND   MACHINERY 

party  manager  of  the  ward  brings  to  bear  his  peculiar 
powers, — his  thorough  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
his  keen  analj^sis  of  motives,  his  experienced  skill  in 
gaining  influence  over  men  of  widely  different  dispo- 
sitions and  circumstances.  Having  secured  a  hold 
upon  his  constituents,  the  successful  ward  politician 
(and  it  is  characteristic  of  him  to  succeed)  is  able  to 
bring  about  effective  unity  and  cooperation  among  the 
heterogeneous  elements  with  which  he  deals. 

The  Tammany  organization  of  New  York  City  was 
the  first  to  master  the  art  of  political  leadership  under 
metropolitan  conditions.  By  skilful  measures  the 
managers  secured  the  faithful  attachment  of  the  voters 
to  the  party  machinery  and  insured  their  interest  in 
its  support.  Much  light  is  thrown  upon  standard 
methods  employed  by  ward  politicians  for  securing 
and  maintaining  party  ascendancy,  by  the  study  of 
Miss  Jane  Addams's  description  of  the  long-continued 
party  leadership  of  a  successful  politician  in  a  Chicago 
ward.  His  full  understanding  of  the  people  whom  he 
wished  to  control  goes  far  to  explain  his  success  in  con- 
trolling them.  The  Tammany  organization  is  likewise 
thoroughly  human  if  not  humane.  From  the  mere 
fact  of  its  tremendous  hold  upon  the  city  masses,  we 
are  justified  in  concluding  that  it  cannot  be  altogether 
malign  in  spirit  and  method.  Some  one,  writing  ap- 
parently from  inside  knowledge,  has  given  as  a  reason 
for  the  return  of  Tammany  to  power  in  1903  the  fact 
that  the  leaders  of  the  organization  "live  with  the 
voters  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  in  the  year." 
They  enter  into  the  life  of  the  people ;  their  presence 
lends  distinction  to  the  weddings  and  impressiveness 

210 


EFFECT  OF   THE   CITY  UPON   PARTY  SYSTEM 

to  tlie  funerals  of  the  ward;  they  take  an  interest  in 
family  concerns ;  they  secure  employment  for  sons  and 
daughters ;  if  a  boy  goes  astray  they  look  after  him ; 
from  their  ample  pockets  comes  help  to  meet  the  com- 
mon emergencies  of  the  poor  in  winter.  The  grateful 
voter  will  scarcely  cast  a  ballot  against  the  wishes  of 
the  generous  man  who  furnishes  coal  to  his  family  in 
time  of  distress  or  saves  them  from  being  turned  into 
the  street  for  non-payment  of  rent. 

The  cynic  may  be  disposed  to  attribute  all  such 
neighborly  helpfulness  from  political  managers  to 
selfish  or  corrupt  motives.  But  sad,  indeed,  is  the 
prospect  for  government  by  the  people  if  human  agen- 
cies altogether  evil  wield  such  power  over  the  multi- 
tude. 

Direct  personal  rule  is,  moreover,  in  itself  most 
economical  and  efficient,  most  adjustable  to  the  needs 
of  different  localities  and  to  the  various  exigencies  of 
private  business,  and  it  is  most  prompt  in  action. 
Personal  authority  is  likewise  most  quick  and  ready  in 
attention  to  the  numerous  details  of  the  regular  city 
government,  as  well  as  most  available  in  sudden  pub- 
lic emergencies  and  unforeseen  demands.  Great  ad- 
vantage accrues  especially  to  Tammany  Hall  from  its 
long  experience  in  city  government,  and  a  reform 
government  is  subject  to  peculiar  disadvantage  because 
of  the  mere  absence  of  a  store  of  acquired  experience. 
As  city  reform  is  in  essence  and  purpose  opposed  to 
that  personal  rule  so  prominent  in  the  Tammany  form 
of  administration,  it  suffers  in  the  estimation  of  good 
citizens  from  the  lack  of  those  qualities  of  directness, 
convenience,    and   promptness   displayed   by   govern- 

211 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

ment  under  the  management  of  the  typical  ward  poli- 
tician. The  reformer  must  necessarily  introduce 
more  machinery  and  employ  more  safeguards.  Many 
reputable  citizens  prefer  a  government  which  they 
find  to  be  pliable,  considerate,  accommodating,  and 
able  to  grant  legitimate  favors  without  exasperating 
and  costly  delay,  to  one,  however  upright  and  honor- 
able, which  can  act  only  slowly,  to  the  detriment  of 
private  business  and  oftentimes  to  that  of  the  city 
itself,  at  least  in  appearance. 

Political  control  over  the  race  or  class  vote  as  dis- 
tinct from  that  of  the  individual  may  be  illustrated 
by  a  specific  case.  A  member  of  Congress  who  has  a 
distinguished  reputation  for  uprightness  and  indepen- 
dence upon  public  questions  is  successively  reelected 
to  his  position  by  a  metropolitan  constituency  w^hich 
in  city  and  state  politics  votes  for  the  opposite  party. 
The  fact  is  accounted  for  in  this  wise:  Many  years 
ago,  when  a  practising  attorney,  this  congressman  had 
charge  of  the  settlement  of  an  estate,  which  business 
brought  him  into  close  contact  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time  w^ith  a  certain  class  of  poor  tenants  of 
foreign  birth.  By  his  strictly  just  treatment  and  his 
humane  regard  for  their  interests  he  won  the  confi- 
dence of  the  individuals  directly  concerned  and  of 
their  whole  class  as  well.  Now,  although  the  persons 
composing  the  class  have  changed,  the  entire  class  con- 
tinues to  vote  for  a  man  in  whom  their  trust  is  an 
inheritance  or  a  tradition.  More  than  others,  the  de- 
pendent poor  are  led  by  impulses  generated  in  personal 
contact  and  by  motives  which  are  personal.  More 
than  others,  they  are  grateful  for  kindness,  and  once 

212 


EFFECT  OF  THE  CITY  UPON  PARTY  SYSTEM 

their  confidence  is  gained  they  manifest,  and  impart 
to  their  children,  a  constancy  of  regard  not  to  be  de- 
spised by  the  astute  politician.  A  city  organization 
which  understands  and  can  command  forces  such  as 
these  may  maintain  continuous  control  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

The  experiences  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  illus- 
trates in  a  somewhat  different  manner  the  present 
phase  of  city  government.  Here  the  Republican  party 
holds  a  position  corresponding  to  that  of  Tammany 
Hall  in  New  York.  There  are,  however,  two  very 
marked  differences  in  the  relations  of  the  two  city 
machines  to  the  party  system.  Throughout  almost  the 
whole  of  the  last  half-century  Tammany  has  been 
compelled  to  confront  a  hostile  organization  in  control 
of  the  government  at  Washington  and  of  the  Federal 
patronage  in  New  York  City  as  well.  Even  during 
the  few  years  of  Democratic  ascendancy  in  national 
politics  the  administration  at  Washington  was  not 
specially  favorable  to  Tammany.  No  such  adverse  in- 
fluence has  hampered  the  Republican  machine  in 
Philadelphia.  Federal  patronage  and  city  patronage 
have  been  in  the  same  hands  and  have  helped  to 
strengthen  and  solidify  the  organization. 

In  respect  to  state  politics  also  the  two  cities  occupy 
different  positions.  The  field  of  Tammany's  opera- 
tions is  situated  within  a  close,  or  doubtful  State,  and, 
moreover,  in  that  one  of  the  doubtful  States  in  which 
beyond  all  others  the  plant  of  presidential  ambition 
buds  and  blooms.  The  metropolis  has  constantly  been 
forced  to  face  a  preponderating  Republican  majority 
in  the  rest  of  the  State  equal  to  its  own  Democratic 

213 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

majority.  The  inevitable  result  follows.  New  York 
politics  is  always  national  politics.  The  city  is  the 
continuous  battle-ground  of  the  national  parties.  Its 
domestic  concerns  focus  the  attention  of  the  whole 
country,  and  Tammany  has  all  along  been  exposed  to 
the  searching  scrutiny,  the  sharp  criticism,  of  the 
nation.  It  has  been  made  the  personification  of  the 
most  flagrant  delinquencies  in  city  government  and 
the  scapegoat  for  all  municipal  crime.  The  Republi- 
can machine  of  Philadelphia  is  simply  an  integral  part 
of  the  strongest  state  party  organization  that  has  yet 
appeared.  It  has  attracted  no  such  general  observa- 
tion from  without  as  Tammany,  and  no  such  avalanche 
of  popular  objurgation.  In  Philadelphia,  therefore, 
a  situation  is  presented  which  foreshadows  the  de- 
struction or  the  arrest  of  the  party  system.  One  sole 
organization  is  in  complete  command.  While,  because 
of  tradition  and  habit  and  popular  prejudice,  the 
name  of  an  opposing  party  is  kept  in  the  field,  even 
that  shadow  of  opposition  is  made  an  appendix  to  the 
all-powerful  ruling  body.  The  condition  is  analogous 
to  that  which  prevails  in  some  of  the  Southern  States 
where  one  of  the  parties  is  the  government,  and  the 
opposing  party  is  found  useful  only  in  the  perform- 
ance of  formal  minor  functions.  There  have  been 
times  even  in  New  York  City  when  a  semblance  of 
conspiracy  between  the  inner  circles  of  managers  of 
the  two  parties  has  appeared ;  but  the  genuine  and 
active  strife  always  waging  between  the  parties,  as  a 
whole,  has  prevented  the  continuance  of  such  a  re- 
lation. 

The  glaring  evils  developed  under  present  forms  of 

214 


EFFECT  OF  THE  CITY  UPON  PARTY  SYSTEM 

city  government  have  perforce  concentrated  public 
attention  upon  the  party  system,  and  the  patent  fail- 
ure of  the  party  machine  to  insure  for  the  ever-grow- 
ing urban  masses  satisfactory  local  government  has 
tended  to  discredit  and  condemn  the  system  in  the 
minds  of  many  thoughtful  citizens.  This  strong  cur- 
rent of  unfavorable  criticism  tells  upon  the  standing 
of  the  institutional  party  before  the  country;  but  in 
a  way  not  wholly  to  its  detriment.  The  interest  awak- 
ened and  the  earnest  study  applied  to  the  elucidation 
of  the  knotty  questions  of  municipal  government  may 
be  expected  ultimately  to  either  point  the  way,  by  re- 
form and  improvement,  to  the  increase  of  party  effi- 
ciency, or  to  reveal  a  substitute  for  party  which  shall 
be  devoid  of  its  weaknesses  and  faults. 

Already  the  city  has  furnished  much  valuable  ex- 
perience in  political  methods.  It  has  kept  the  party 
system  on  trial  before  the  reading  and  thinking  pub- 
lic ;  and,  as  the  small  city  has  led  in  the  education  and 
training  of  the  people  in  local  and  state  political  man- 
agement, so  the  great  metropolis  has  become  a  center 
of  special  instruction  for  the  higher  political  educa- 
tion, since  it  deals  with  some  of  the  most  serious  and 
intricate  problems  of  the  whole  science  of  government. 
Under  the  spur  of  well-nigh  intolerable  conditions  in 
city  management,  large  numbers  of  citizens  from  those 
classes  which  would  otherwise  hold  aloof  from  politics 
and  wrap  themselves  in  a  mantle  of  contempt  for  the 
active  politician,  have  been  induced  to  go  into  politics 
themselves.  Ministers  of  the  gospel,  teachers,  mer- 
chants, manufacturers,  bankers,  wealthy  gentlemen  of 
intelligence    and    leisure,    have    participated    in    the 

215 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

struggle  for  the  practical  control  of  city  affairs.  Per- 
manent local  associations  have  been  formed  for  mu- 
nicipal improvement,  and  out  of  the  local  citizen's 
leagues  has  come  the  promising  National  Civic  Fed- 
eration. Whether  the  efforts  of  the  newly  organized 
citizen's  leagues  have  been  attended  by  signal  success 
or  have  resulted  in  apparent  failure,  they  have  sup- 
plied most  instructive  experience.  Clearly,  the  city 
holds  the  leading  place  as  a  political  training-school 
for  the  classes  particularly  in  need  of  instruction,  since 
they  are  those  in  which  political  leaders  should  natu- 
rally arise. 

Finally,  while  it  is  in  the  city  that  we  find  that 
excess  of  organization  under  the  name  of  party  which 
threatens  to  destroy  the  party  system,  it  is  in  the  city 
also  that  we  find  the  chief  training-school  for  that 
independent,  intelligent,  discriminating  voting  w^hich 
tends  to  restore  the  balance  of  parties.  The  city  elec- 
tion is  entirely  independent  of  Federal  politics;  it 
involves  no  national  office;  it  is  even  separated  from 
all  connection  with  the  choosing  of  a  United  States 
senator,  and  is  likewise  severed  from  state  elections, 
which  are  fixed  at  a  different  date ;  it  is  for  the  choice 
of  city  officers  alone.  This  is  peculiarly  favorable  to 
the  exercise  of  independence  at  the  polls.  The  most 
ardent  believer  in  the  party  system  unites  at  city  elec- 
tions with  those  devoid  of  all  faith  in  party  in  the 
support  of  candidates  nominated  by  the  opposing 
party  or  by  a  non-partizan  citizen's  association.  Con- 
ditions are  favorable  for  the  cultivation  of  a  habit  of 
discrimination  in  the  exercise  of  the  elective  fran- 
chise.   Forty  or  fifty  thousand  Democratic  citizens  in 

216 


effp:(_'T  of  the  city  upon  party  system 

New  Y^ork  City  have  formed  such  a  habit.  They  sup- 
port other  than  the  regular  party  nominees  at  city 
elections.  Chicago  city  elections  are  largely  deter- 
mined by  the  conduct  of  a  considerable  class  of  public- 
spirited  independent  voters  drawn  from  both  parties. 
Such  political  independence  freely  exercised  at  the  city 
polls  helps  to  loosen  the  trammels  of  party  at  all  elec- 
tions and  thus  to  remove  the  most  serious  obstacle  to 
the  success  of  the  party  system. 

References : 

''Political  Parties  and  City  Government,"  by  F.  J,  Gooa- 
now.     Proceedings  National  Municipal  League,  Vol.  V,  1899. 

'  *  Municipal  Government  by  National  Parties, ' '  by  Chas. 
Kichardson.  Proceedings  National  Municipal  League,  Vol.  I, 
1895. 

'  *  Exclusion  of  Partisan  Politics  from  Municipal  Affairs, ' ' 
by  F.  M.  Loomis.  Proceedings  National  Municipal  League, 
Vol.  Ill,  1897. 

''Municipal  Political  Parties,"  by  M.  K.  Maltbie.  Pro- 
ceedings National  Municipal  League,  Vol.  VI,  1900. 

"A  Non-Partisan  City  Government"  (Cambridge,  Mass.), 
by  Francis  J.  Douglas.     The  Outlool;  Vol.  LVIII. 

"Municipal  Administration,"  by  J.  A.  Fairlie,  1901. 

"Municipal  Functions,"  by  M.   R.   Maltbie,   1898. 

' '  City  Government  in  the  United  States, "  by  A.  R.  Conk- 
ling,  1897. 

' '  The  Philadelphia  Campaign  against  Machine  Rule, ' '  by 
C.  R.  Woodruff. 

"The*  Chicago  Voters'  League,"  by  S.  E.  Sparling.  The 
Outlook,  Vol.  LXXI. 

' '  Municipal  Government  in  the  United  States, "  by  J.  Ford. 
North  American  Review,  Vol.  CLXXII. 

"Democracy  and  Social  Ethics,"  by  Jane  Addams.  Chapter 
VII. 


217 


CHAPTER  XVII 


PARTY    FINANCE 


Some  of  the  details  respecting  the  income  and  ex- 
penditure of  the  political  party  are  open  to  general 
observation;  other  details  are  not  matter  of  common 
knowledge,  and  information  concerning  them  is  ob- 
tained with  difficulty.  An  adequate  presentation  of  the 
subject  of  party  finance  would  require  a  special  trea- 
tise based  upon  elaborate  and  thorough  study.  All 
that  can  be  attempted  here  is  to  call  attention  to  a 
few  of  the  more  salient  features  of  the  general  subject. 
A  considerable  part  of  the  machinery  of  the  party  is 
devoted  to  the  collection  and  disbursement  of  funds. 
A  treasurer  is  provided  for  every  committee,  and  care- 
ful arrangements  are  often  made  for  the  expert  audit- 
ing of  party  accounts.  In  some  of  the  printed  rules 
governing  party  procedure  in  city  or  county,  minute 
instructions  are  given  for  the  examination  of  the  ac- 
counts of  the  treasurer.  The  financial  machinery  of 
the  party  is  largely  a  reflection  of  that  of  the  govern- 
ment itself.  Party  funds  are  collected  in  precincts 
and  townships;  the  county  has  its  special  party  bud- 
get; state  committees  conduct  financial  operations  of 
no  small  magnitude ;  each  of  the  two  national  commit- 
tees has  its  separate  agency  for  collecting  and  dis- 

218 


PARTY   FINANCE 


bursing  the  money  indispensable  to  the  carrying  on  of 
the  party  business,  and  during  the  year  of  the  quad- 
rennial national  election,  the  sums  amount  to  many 
millions  of  dollars. 

In  the  management  of  state  finances  it  is  observable 
that  each  political  locality,  each  geographical  area,  is 
jealous  of  its  right  to  receive  a  full  share  of  the  gov- 
ernment appropriations.  Something  of  this  may  also 
appear  in  the  attitude  of  party  committees ;  but  there 
is  a  radical  difference  in  the  principles  involved.  The 
distinguishing  function  of  the  political  party,  that 
of  promoting  unity  of  feeling  and  action  among  those 
separated  by  their  municipal  institutions,  is  shown 
with  especial  clearness  in  its  use  of  the  party  income. 
There  is  no  pretense  that  the  sums  gathered  in  one 
ward  or  precinct  will  be  expended  within  the  same  lo- 
cality. County  committees  solicit  contributions  from 
one  township  to  be  applied  in  another.  The  very  basis 
of  appeal  is  that  the  party  needs  are  greatest  in  those 
regions  where  there  is  the  most  reluctance  to  give. 
So  in  the  State  and  in  the  country  at  large,  the  char- 
acteristic party  method  is  to  raise  money  in  one  section 
to  be  used  in  another.  Party  committees  and  disburs- 
ing agents,  being  under  no  legal  restraints,  exercise  the 
utmost  freedom  in  the  transfer  of  party  supplies  from 
section  to  section  or  from  one  committee  to  another. 

There  are  various  sources  of  party  income.  Contri- 
butions from  the  rank  and  file  of  party  supporters 
make  up  an  item  of  importance.  In  the  financial  re- 
ports of  the  state  government,  the  personal  services  of 
citizens  appear  among  the  receipts  of  the  government. 
An  officer  serves  without  pay,  or  he  may  pay  a  fine 

219 


PAKTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

upon  refusal  to  serve;  citizens  give  their  labor  upon 
the  highway  in  lieu  of  money  payment  to  the  State. 
To  the  State  this  sort  of  income  is  of  less  importance 
than  formerly ;  but  to  the  party  the  unpaid  service  of 
members  must  ever  be  of  cardinal  value.  The  very 
object  and  aim  of  the  party,  as  rationally  defined  and 
approved,  is  to  enable  the  great  mass  of  citizens  to 
render  more  effective  support  and  assistance  to  the 
State.  Membership  in  a  party  implies  a  desire  to  con- 
tribute to  its  support.  A  man  who  looks  upon  his 
party  as  a  means  of  personal  advantage  or  aggrandize- 
ment thereby  ceases  to  be,  in  any  true  sense,  a  sup- 
porter and  member,  and  becomes  a  drag  or  an  enemy. 
A  party,  under  whatever  name,  w^hich  w^as  dominated 
by  such  a  spirit  would  lose  the  essential  characteristic 
of  party.  In  connection  with  the  unpaid  labor  of 
members  a  considerable  amount  of  actual  cash  is  ex- 
pended for  party  objects,  though  neither  appears  upon 
the  treasurer's  balance-sheet.  What  may  be  called 
benevolent  contributions  from  individuals  swell  the 
party  income.  Men  of  wealth  make  large  dona- 
tions w^ith  no  reference  whatever  to  business  interests 
and  no  thought  of  personal  gain ;  property  has  been 
bequeathed  to  trustees  for  the  benefit  of  a  party.  Gifts 
such  as  these  are  in  spirit  and  motive  like  those  of 
unremunerated  service  from  disinterested  members  of 
the  party. 

Candidates  for  nomination  before  a  party  caucus  or 
primary  are  accustomed  to  contribute  to  party  ex- 
penses. The  same  is  true  of  those  who  have  been  nomi- 
nated for  office,  and  these  sources  of  income  are  of 
especial  consequence  to  the  treasury  of  the  party  w^hich 

220 


PARTY  FINANCE 


usually  carries  the  election.  Persons  holding  official 
place  and  those  employed  in  administrative  positions 
have  been  expected  to  furnish  aid  to  the  organization 
to  which  they  owe  their  honors  and  their  salaries.  It 
became  customary  to  make  regular  assessments  upon 
the  salaries  of  employees  of  the  government,  of  all 
grades  and  ranks,  for  party  uses,  and  the  movement 
for  the  reform  of  the  civil  service  had  for  one  of  its 
objects  the  removal  of  this  abuse.  Office-holders,  how- 
ever, may  and  do  make  voluntary  donations  to  the 
party  treasury. 

A  third  class  of  contributors  is  composed  of  those 
who  are  influenced  by  a  consciousness  that  the  policy 
and  conduct  of  the  party  are  calculated  to  affect  their 
business  interests.  Individual  members  of  the  class 
are,  however,  radically  different  in  character  and  act 
from  motives  quite  diverse.  There  are  clear-sighted, 
conscientious  men  who  have  become  convinced  that  the 
application  of  a  certain  policy  advocated  by  one  of  the 
parties  has  favored,  or  is  likely  to  favor,  the  earning  of 
large  profits  by  the  business  in  which  they  are  engaged, 
with  great  personal  gain  to  themselves,  while  at  the 
same  time  working  injury  to  the  state  or  the  general 
public.  Influenced  by  that  belief,  they  have  been  led 
to  give  freely  of  the  means  which  they  consider  to  have 
been  acquired  unjustly,  for  the  benefit  of  the  opposite 
party,  whose  success  would,  in  their  opinion,  promote 
the  welfare  of  the  public,  though  tending  to  their  own 
business  injury  and  personal  loss.  These  contributions 
may  be  regarded  as  ''conscience  money"  of  an  entirely 
honorable  and  praiseworthy  sort.  The  donors  honestly 
endeavor  to   return   to   the   people   the   unjust   gain 

221 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

which  they  have  innocently  appropriated  and  which 
is  rightly  a  public  possession.  Instances  of  such  truly 
patriotic  conduct  are  probably  more  numerous  than 
would  be  supposed.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr. 
Thomas  G.  Shearman,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  spent  liber- 
ally of  his  private  fortune  in  aid  of  an  extensive  prop- 
agation of  the  principles  of  free  trade,  while  admitting 
that  his  own  wealth  was  derived  from  protected  in- 
dustries. 

But  probably  most  men  feel  a  genuine  and  comfort- 
able assurance  that  the  occupations  whereby  they 
make  their  living  or  accumulate  riches  are  at  the  same 
time  of  distinct  advantage  to  the  community,  and  that 
damage  to  their  private  business  would  be  a  detriment 
to  the  state  likewise.  They  feel  that  in  helping  to 
build  up  the  party  w^hich  safeguards  their  personal 
interests  and  promotes  their  business  prosperity,  they 
are  also  acting  as  patriotic  citizens.  While  they  may 
not  assert  that  their  motives  are  wholly  disinterested, 
they  fully  believe  that  their  private  interests  fortu- 
nately coincide  with  the  larger  interests  of  the  general 
public. 

Others  there  are  engaged  in  callings  which,  in  them- 
selves or  in  the  manner  of  their  conduct,  are  harmful 
to  the  country  and  to  the  people.  They  are  not  blind 
to  the  fact ;  but  for  the  sake  of  selfish,  pecuniary 
advantage,  they  pay,  in  the  aggregate,  very  large  sums 
into  the  treasury  of  that  political  party  which  appears 
to  them  to  advocate,  or  to  promise  to  advocate,  the 
course  of  political  conduct  most  likely  to  foster  and 
develop  the  enterprises  in  which  they  trust  for  riches. 
In  return  for  their  benefactions,  they  may  even  secure 

222 


PARTY   FINANCE 


a  pledge,  actual  or  implied,  that  the  party  will  regard 
the  welfare  of  the  illegitimate  business  as  paramount 
to  that  of  the  Avhole  people.  It  was  once  reported  that 
the  Louisiana  Lottery  Company  had  offered  a  million 
dollars  to  the  campaign  fund  of  one  of  the  parties, 
which  refused  to  accept  the  money  because  the  offer 
was  coupled  wnth  the  condition  that  one  of  the  offices 
in  the  Post  Office  Department  should  be  filled  by  a 
nominee  of  the  company.  Whether  true  or  not,  the 
story  illustrates  a  sort  of  evil  influence  which  may  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  party  officers. 

The  various  sorts  of  contributors  to  party  funds  are 
not,  of  course,  to  be  sharply  distinguished  one  from 
another.  They  shade  by  insensible  gradations  into  one 
another.    Human  motives  are  never  quite  unmixed. 

From  the  party  treasury,  by  innumerable  channels, 
go  out  again  the  large  sums  gathered  in  from  many 
quarters.  Party  expenditures  may  be  roughly  grouped 
into  two  general  divisions,— those  which,  by  common 
consent,  would  be  adjudged  legitimate  or  necessary, 
and  those  w^hich  would  be  regarded  as  doubtful  or  ille- 
gitimate, corrupt  and  immoral.  Between  the  two  no 
man  can  dogmatically  draw  the  line. 

It  cannot  be  reasonably  denied  that  the  political 
party  may  rightly  use  its  funds  for  the  ordinary  and 
obvious  needs  of  a  great  organization,  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  an  honorable  party  business.  Money  must 
be  paid  for  the  use  of  rooms  or  buildings  for  public 
assemblies,  for  meetings  of  committees,  clubs,  etc.,  and 
for  the  routine  work  of  the  organization.  Clerks,  sten- 
ographers, and  others  whose  labors  are  required  con- 
tinuously or  for  long  periods  receive  salaries.     The 

223 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

cost  of  printing  and  distributing  the  vast  quantities 
of  literature  scattered  over  the  land  by  the  two  chief 
parties  is  enormous,  and  must  be  met  from  the  party 
treasury.  Those  party  officers  who  give  their  time 
wholly  or  in  large  measure  to  party  affairs  may  prop- 
erly be  remunerated.  All  these,  wath  a  multitude  of 
incidental  demands  besides,  necessitate  large  pecuniary 
outlay  for  unobjectionable  purposes. 

But  money  used  to  persuade  a  voter  to  cast  any  but 
a  free  and  untrammeled  vote  is  money  illegitimately, 
corruptly  used.  Such  misappropriation  of  party  funds 
is  condemned  by  all  right-minded  persons.  It  works 
directly  to  undermine  the  usefulness  of  the  party  as  a 
political  organ  and  tends  to  its  destruction. 

Is  it  possible  for  the  finances  of  political  parties  to 
be  administered  so  as  not  to  endanger  the  very  objects 
for  which  the  party  has  been  evolved  ?  This  is  a  ques- 
tion vitally  concerning  every  citizen.  There  are  certain 
points  in  party  management  touching  the  collecting 
and  disbursing  of  money  where  serious  and  threat- 
ening danger  is  evident.  The  mere  possession  and  con- 
trol of  funds  at  discretion  by  party  officers  opens  the 
way  of  temptation  to  doubtful  or  vicious  use  of  a  most 
powerful  instrument.  The  mere  fact  of  ability  to  fur- 
nish a  voter  with  a  financial  motive  for  exercising  his 
right  of  suffrage  in  a  particular  manner  tests  the  integ- 
rity of  party  workers.  While  the  direct  buying  of  votes 
is  a  criminal  act,  defined  and  punishable  by  law,  the 
end  sought  is  often  gained  by  means  unregarded  in  the 
legal  code  but  no  less  effective.  The  proper  employ- 
ment of  party  resources  in  payment  for  services  ren- 
dered may  be  skilfully  made  to  appeal  to  unworthy 

224 


PARTY   FINANCE 


motives,  and,  under  the  guise  of  due  return  for  labor, 
the  intention  of  the  party  agent,  more  or  less  evident, 
may  render  an  apparently  innocent  transaction  prac- 
tical bribery.  An  excessive  amount  may  be  offered  for 
service  required,  with  an  understanding  that  it  will 
secure  votes  for  the  party,  or  the  mere  pretense  of 
service  may  disguise  the  acceptance  of  money  for  a 
vote.  Leaders  of  labor  organizations  and  others  in 
position  to  exercise  effective  influence  over  large  num- 
bers of  voters  are  especially  exposed  to  insidious  ap- 
proach by  unprincipled  party  managers  and  even  to 
propositions  openly  dishonorable,  for  the  sake  of  se- 
curing their  cooperation  or  to  forestall  opposition. 

When  money  is  tendered  to  party  officers  by  agents 
of  illicit  enterprises,  such  as  lotteries  and  other  forms 
of  gambling,  the  bare  fact  implies  an  improper  motive 
on  the  part  of  the  donor  and  the  acceptance  of  such 
gifts  stamps  dishonor  upon  the  party. 

The  corruption  of  legislators,  in  city  and  State,  by 
agents  of  the  great  corporations,  by  means  of  which 
the  people  have  been  robbed  of  valuable  public  fran- 
chises and  enormous  private  fortunes  have  been 
heaped  up,  has  long  been  a  scandal  and  a  shame  to 
the  nation.  But  direct  bribery  of  government  officials 
is  a  dangerous  criminal  proceeding,  and  in  later  years 
the  same  ends  have  been  secured  with  greater  safety 
through  the  control  which  these  powerful  combina- 
tions of  capital  have  been  able  to  exercise  over  party 
leaders  who  receive  and  appropriate  the  party  funds. 
Immense  sums  come  into  party  treasuries  under 
pledges,  explicit  or  implied,  that  such  men  shall  be 
elected  to  office  as  will  do  the  bidding  of  the  corpora- 
is  225 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

tions,  or  at  least  will  not  oppose  their  interests.  AVhen 
the  party  organ  is  so  centralized  in  a  particular  city 
or  other  locality  that  one  party  leader  is  in  a  position 
to  command  the  action  of  the  organization,  then  it 
becomes  possible  for  a  corrupt  leader  to  enter  into 
contract  with  representatives  of  business  interests  to 
guide  the  course  of  the  government  in  accordance  with 
the  dictates  of  the  agents  of  private  concerns. 

So  long  as  normal  party  relations  are  preserved, 
abuses  within  the  party  are  subject  to  restraint  more 
or  less  effective  from  the  vigilance  of  the  opposing 
party,  which  promptly  exposes  egregious  wrong-doing. 
But  the  climax  of  abuse  is  reached  when  the  condi- 
tions just  described  extend  to  both  parties,  and  by 
collusion  between  both  leaders,  the  two  machines  un- 
dertake, for  a  money  consideration,  to  securely  safe- 
guard private  interests  adverse  to  the  public  welfare. 
Party  leaders  thus  corrupted  and  trained  by  successful 
experience  in  their  evil  courses  are  in  a  position  to 
exact  continuous  and  enlarging  tribute  from  business 
enterprises  of  many  sorts,  by  threatening  to  inaugu- 
rate or  to  permit  courses  of  governmental  policy  likely 
to  interfere  with  their  operations.  Government  by 
corrupt  collusion  of  the  officers  of  antagonistic  parties 
is  no  longer  party  government  at  all,  but  becomes  gov- 
ernment by  a  dangerous  conspiracy  under  party 
names. 

Happily,  we  may  believe  that  a  state  of  affairs  so 
disgraceful  is  far  from  common,  and  that  but  a  small 
class  of  party  managers  has  ever  been  involved.  But 
the  evils  undeniably  associated,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  with  the  present  methods  in  party  finance  are 

226 


PARTY   FINANCE 


sufficiently  conspicuous  to  demand  attention  and  to 
engage  the  most  earnest  efforts  for  reform. 

It  has  been  pointed  out  that  party  development  has 
been  closely  connected  with  the  enormous  expansion 
of  modern  capitalistic  organizations,  and  has  followed 
a  somewhat  similar  course.  The  great  growth  of  cor- 
porate enterprises  has  been  attended  with  the  rise  of 
serious  abuses,  by  which  rightful  owners  of  corporate 
property  have  been  fraudulently  deprived  of  their 
just  dues.  These  have  been,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
checked  and  restricted  by  the  enforced  introduction  of 
the  element  of  publicity,  by  light  thrown  upon  dark 
places.  The  same  influence  would  doubtless  be  found 
wholesome  in  the  political  party.  Indeed,  it  seems 
clear  that  the  one  preliminary  requisite  to  all  effective 
reform  of  the  party  is  full  publicity  in  respect  to  the 
whole  matter  of  party  finance. 

True  party  interest,  the  preservation  of  a  worthy 
party  spirit,  the  use  of  the  party  as  a  real  organ  of 
public  opinion, — these  do  not  require  the  collection  of 
vast  sums  given  from  motives  questionable  or  corrupt, 
and  accepted  at  the  sacrifice  of  party  integrity.  Evi- 
dence of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  experience  of  certain 
of  the  minor  political  parties.  These  parties  carry  no 
elections;  they  do  not  expect  to  assume  the  conduct 
of  the  government;  they  are  in  no  position  to  appeal 
to  the  great  sources  of  corruption  for  financial  aid. 
AYhat  they  receive  is  likely  to  be  contributed  without 
reference  to  governmental  policy,  and  may  be  regarded 
as  given  from  disinterested  motives.  Nevertheless, 
they  have  been  able  to  maintain  extensive  organiza- 
tions and  carry  on  costly  campaigns,  getting  their  sup- 

227 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

port  mainly  from  the  voluntary  gifts  of  party  mem- 
bers. General  James  B.  Weaver  was,  in  1892,  the 
candidate  of  the  Populist  party  for  the  Presidency. 
He  projected  a  wide  campaign  throughout  the  Rocky 
Mountain  and  Pacific  States,  which  involved  large 
expenses.  The  party  treasury  was  empty,  but  the  can- 
didate was  an  experienced  campaigner.  It  had  been 
his  custom  to  collect  directly  from  his  audiences,  or 
from  those  among  his  hearers  especially  interested  in 
his  cause,  the  funds  needed  for  party  expenses.  In 
the  present  case  he  borrowed  money  enough  to  enable 
him  to  meet  his  first  appointment,  at  Denver,  Colorado. 
After  he  had  delivered  his  address  to  a  crowded  au- 
dience, a  woman  supporter  made  a  statement  to  the 
assembly  concerning  the  necessity  of  securing  financial 
means  for  the  prosecution  of  the  campaign.  As  no 
provision  had  been  made  for  taking  a  collection  the 
lady  playfully  suggested  that  any  desiring  to  con- 
tribute might  throw  their  silver  dollars  directly  at 
her.  Instantly  there  came  a  rain  of  dollars  from 
every  part  of  the  hall  in  such  numbers  and  force  as 
to  threaten  injury  to  the  occupants  of  the  platform. 
The  entire  campaign  which  followed  was  financed  by 
direct  donations  from  party  supporters  in  the  audi- 
ences. Mr.  Weaver  returned  to  his  home  having 
secured  the  electors  in  several  of  the  States  and  the 
largest  popular  vote  ever  given  to  a  candidate  of  a 
minor  party. 

When  the  rank  and  file  of  the  supporters  of  a  party 
both  furnish  the  means  for  meeting  the  necessary  ex- 
penses and  also  insist  upon  knowing  how  their  contri- 
butions are  expended,  then  the  professed  objects  of  the 

228 


PARTY   FINANCE 


party  are  likely  to  be  secured.  So  long  as  a  party 
depends  upon  largesses  from  favored  industries,  the 
rights  of  the  public  will  suffer.  No  people  can  be  free 
who  do  not  maintain  the  privilege  of  paying  their  own 
bills. 


229 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  PARTY  IN  POWER  AND  THE  PARTY  IN  OPPOSITION 

If  the  ideal  of  the  dual  party  scheme  were  fulfilled 
in  practice,  the  two  organizations  would,  on  the  aver- 
age, win  and  hold  about  an  equal  number  of  support- 
ers. Then,  as  the  one  or  the  other  was  more  successful 
in  meeting  the  popular  demands  or  in  creating  a  gen- 
eral belief  that  it  would  do  so,  that  one  would  be 
intrusted  with  the  responsibilities  of  office.  This  ideal 
has,  however,  not  often  been  achieved.  The  prevailing 
tendency  has  been  for  one  party  habitually  to  carry 
elections  and  become  recognized  as  the  majority  party, 
while  its  rival  confronts  it  as  the  party  of  the  minority. 
After  the  Whigs  had  begun  to  rule  in  England, 
^bout  the  year  1690,  they  remained  in  power  almost 
^continuously  until  1760,  a  period  of  seventy  years. 
Then  the  Tories  were  in  office,  with  a  few  brief  inter- 
vals when  the  Whigs  reestablished  ascendancy,  until 
1830.  During  all  this  time  the  suffrage  was  restricted 
to  the  few,  and  elections  were  carried  by  means  of 
bribery  and  the  spoils  of  office.  After  the  great  en- 
franchisement of  1832,  the  two  parties  approached 
much  nearer  the  condition  of  equality  in  respect  to 
popular  support,  though  the  Conservatives  have  been 
in  power  a  much  larger  proportion  of  the  time  than 
have  the  Liberals. 

230 


MAJORITY   AND   MINORITY   PARTIES 

In  the  United  States,  Jefferson's  party  was  clearly 
the  party  of  the  majority  from  the  time  of  its  triumph 
in  1800  until  1860.  Since  then,  the  Republicans  have 
constituted  the  majority  party. 

The  same  propensity  may  be  observed  in  the  various 
States  and  even  in  the  local  subdivisions.  One  or- 
ganization is  traditionally  the  party  of  the  majority, 
the  other  that  of  the  minority.  It  is  in  theory  only 
that  the  parties  command  equality  of  numbers  in  the 
great  electorate.  In  actual  practice,  one  party  or  the 
other,  in  the  innumerable  governmental  areas,  gains 
reputation  for  superiority  in  administration,  and  the 
other  is  utilized  as  an  organ  of  criticism  and  as  an 
alternate  agency  in  case  of  serious  default. 

Decided  advantage  pertains  to  the  party  of  the 
majority  in  respect  to  harmony  among  its  membership 
and  in  matters  of  discipline.  Moreover,  since  it  is 
compelled  to  actually  do  the  work  of  governing,  it 
demands  a  higher  degree  of  managing  ability  than  is 
required  for  merely  pointing  out  how  the  business 
could  be  better  done.  The  responsibilities  of  office 
compel  a  measure  of  unity  and  harmony  of  action  not 
necessarily  demanded  in  a  party  of  criticism  only. 
Members  whom  its  policy  offends  are  driven  from  its 
ranks,  while  those  of  other  parties  whom  it  attracts 
are  drawn  to  its  support.  Party  harmony  is  thus 
promoted  and  danger  from  internal  faction  lessened. 

On  the  other  hand  the  party  of  the  minority  is  likely 
to  gather  to  itself  the  adherence  of  a  variety  of  dissat- 
isfied classes.  The  mission  of  the  critic  is  attractive 
to  many,  and  mere  opposition  to  the  tenets  and  conduct 
of   the   successful    organization,    upon   very    diverse 

231 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND   MACHINERY 

grounds,  may  furnish  a  quasi  basis  for  association, 
while  no  imperative  reason  exists  for  close  agreement 
upon  an  aggressive  political  creed  for  the  direction 
of  a  definite  course  of  party  action.  But  criticism, 
pure  and  simple,  is  never  constructive,  and  the  loose 
union  of  unharmonious  elements  does  not  naturally 
contribute  to  the  development  of  an  effective  organ 
for  positive  political  achievement. 

The  party  of  opposition  rarely  finds  that  the  lines 
have  fallen  unto  it  in  pleasant  places.  Most  frequently, 
misfortune  waits  upon  its  movements.  The  old  Feder- 
alists, having  lost  their  early  prestige  and  fallen  from 
power,  survived  in  increasing  feebleness  as  a  party  of 
criticism  until  they  became  too  insignificant  to  be 
feared,  and  the  very  name,  discredited  by  repeated 
failure,  was  nejected  by  the  remnant  who  clung  to  the 
semblance  of  organization  which  remained.  The  ranks 
of  the  National  Republicans  and  the  Whigs  were 
swelled  by  accessions  from  the  Democrats  of  those  who 
disapproved  the  course  of  the  party  leaders  or  had 
failed  to  secure  the  adoption  of  favorite  dogmas- 
South  Carolina  Nullifiers,  anti-slavery  Southerners, 
and  other  dissatisfied  political  groups.  But  the  Whig 
party  was  continually  rent  by  faction.  Its  two  Presi- 
dents died  in  office,  to  be  succeeded  by  Vice-Presidents 
representing  opposing  factions,  who  were  able  to  inflict 
greater  injury  upon  the  party  than  could  have  re- 
sulted from  a  defeat  at  the  polls.  Ill  luck  attended  the 
whole  career  of  the  party,  and,  until  1860,  it  was  with 
a  convincing  show  of  reason  that  the  Democrats  were 
able  to  proclaim  themselves  the  only  party  capable  of 
conducting  the  business  of  the   government,  and  to 

232 


MAJORITY  AND   MINORITY   PARTIES 

stigmatize  all  others  as  mere  discordant  factions  of 
temporary  duration. 

Since  the  Civil  War  a  much  nearer  approach  to 
equality  of  fortune  has  been  maintained  between  the 
two  parties.  The  Democrats  outvoted  their  opponents 
in  1876 ;  much  of  the  time  they  have  controlled  the 
lower  House  of  Congress  and,  for  a  brief  period,  the 
Senate.  The  two  Democratic  administrations  have 
commanded  respect  as  strong,  able,  and  honest.  The 
party  enjoys  the  prestige  of  its  inseparable  connection 
with  the  history  of  our  government  throughout  a  long 
and  important  period.  Its  Jefferson  clubs  and  Jack- 
son clubs  span  the  century.  Successive  generations 
in  many  a  family  of  historic  name  have  voted  the 
Democratic  ticket.  It  has  always  been  made  the  sym- 
bol of  principles  of  essential  value  and  of  historic 
significance  in  the  establishment  and  development  of 
the  Republic.  Nevertheless,  the  great  Democratic 
party  has  for  more  than  forty  years  been  the  minority 
party  and,  as  such,  subject  to  many  of  the  casualties, 
disabilities,  and  disasters  which  attended  the  course  of 
minority  parties  before  the  war.  It  has  been  the 
refuge  of  the  dissatisfied  and  factious  elements  thrown 
off,  from  time  to  time,  by  its  opponent  in  the  place  of 
power.  A  disaffected  Republican,  Horace  Greeley, 
was  even  made  the  Democratic  standard-bearer  in 
1872.  Greenbaekers,  Nationalists,  Populists,  advocates 
of  the  gold  standard,  and  other  incompatible  elements 
have  been  gathered  within  its  fold,  and  it  has  not 
always  been  found  possible  to  fuse  the  various  con- 
stituent parts  into  a  compact  working  body. 

The  very  manner  of  holding  to  party  doctrines  or 

233 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

policies  differs  according  as  the  party  commands  a 
majority  or  only  a  minority  of  the  national  support. 
A  party  in  office  is  likely  to  adopt  a  middle  course  in 
dealing  with  disputed  questions,  while  the  opposition 
will  often  contain  men  holding  tenaciously  to  views 
representing  the  extremes  of  opposing  positions;  as 
when,  during  Jackson's  administration,  radical  State- 
Rights  Democrats  went  into  the  Whig  party.  The 
Democrats  who  controlled  the  Chicago  convention  in 
1896  and  those  who  met  in  the  Indianapolis  conven- 
tion of  the  same  year  stood  for  the  most  widely  diver- 
gent opinions  respecting  the  currency,  the  Republicans 
meantime  representing  the  moderate,  conservative  atti- 
tude toward  the  same  question.  Under  such  conditions 
party  discipline  in  the  minority  organization  is,  as  in 
1896,  excessively  difficult  or  impossible. 

When  a  party  long  in  the  minority  comes  into  office, 
it  suffers  from  lack  of  experience  in  the  actual  conduct 
of  public  affairs.  It  finds  difficulty  in  reaching  posi- 
tive conclusions  and  its  followers  are  not  easily  kept 
in  line  so  as  to  carry  its  conclusions  promptly  into 
effective  operation.  Thus,  from  mere  lack  of  experi- 
ence, it  is  liable  to  have  but  a  brief  tenure  of  power. 
Again,  those  who  are  free  from  responsibility  in  gov- 
ernment are  in  a  position  to  make  gain  from  providen- 
tial disasters,  which,  in  the  mind  of  the  populace, 
reflect  unfavorably  upon  their  rulers.  This  opens  the 
way  for  the  partizan  charge  of  a  disposition  to  sympa- 
thize with  the  forces  of  misfortune,  and  to  delight  in 
calamity  for  the  sake  of  party  advantage.  Though  a 
charge  of  this  sort  does  not  profess  to  be  sincere,  but 
is  confessedly  mere  campaign  claptrap,  it  is,  neverthe- 

234 


IMAJORITY   AND   MINORITY   PARTIES 

less,  not  without  political  effect.  In  a  progressive 
democracy,  the  prevailing  sentiment  is  optimistic,  and 
any  appearance  of  pessimism  is  certain  in  the  long 
run  to  be  unpopular.  While  the  ruling  party  suffers 
on  account  of  public  calamities,  it  is  yet  likely  to  get 
more  than  its  due  share  of  credit  for  the  happiness 
and  good  fortune  which  the  country  enjoys,  from  the 
mere  accident  of  its  association  with  the  optimistic 
spirit.  A  Republican  senator  was  once  upon  a  time 
ringing  the  changes  upon  the  party  charge  against  the 
Democrats  of  having  inflicted  "hard  times"  upon  the 
country,  and  assuming  credit  to  his  own  party  for  the 
"good  times"  which  had  prevailed  under  Republican 
dominion,  when  he  was  called  upon  by  a  Democratic 
member  to  state  to  the  House  whether  he  himself  really 
believed  that  the  hard  times  were  caused  by  the  Demo- 
crats and  the  good  times  by  the  Republicans.  The 
senator  adroitly  avoided  a  direct  answer  and  reiterated 
in  louder  tones  the  popular  conviction  on  the  subject. 
It  is  a  curious  psychological  fact  that  a  political  party 
may  be  able  to  maintain  in  its  constituency  a  belief  of 
this  sort,  while,  as  individuals,  the  members  of  the 
party  believe  very  differently. 

Still  another  feature  of  the  position  of  the  minority 
party  may  be  noticed,  which  arises  from  its  distinctive 
function  of  criticism.  The  party  out  of  office  is  bound 
to  find  fault,  to  point  out  an  alternate  and  better  line 
of  policy  and  conduct  than  the  one  proposed  by  its 
rival.  In  the  case  of  the  few  questions  which  gain 
the  attention  of  the  whole  country  because  they  are 
made  subject  to  definite  partizan  debate,  the  successful 
party  usually  gets  the  reputation  of  having  won  its 

235 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

own  way,  of  having  carried  through  its  declared  pol- 
icy. As  a  matter  of  fact,  its  plan  may  have  been 
greatly  modified  and  improved  as  a  result  of  the  criti- 
cism encountered;  yet  the  opposition  will  get  little 
credit  therefor.  From  its  very  position  as  opponent 
and  rival,  the  minority  party  must  persist  in  criticiz- 
ing and  condemning  until  the  point  in  dispute  is  set- 
tled. Then,  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  the  opposition 
accepts  the  situation  and  turns  its  partizan  search- 
light upon  other  questions  not  settled.  Its  enemy 
makes  use  of  this  entirely  natural  course  to  develop 
another  line  of  rather  effective  partizan  animadver- 
sion. The  opposition  is  represented  as  being  devoid 
of  genuine  political  convictions ;  as  having  no  mind  of 
its  own ;  as  opposing,  for  the  mere  sake  of  opposition, 
everything  wise  and  good,  until  it  has  been  soundly 
beaten,  when  it  practically  admits  itself  in  the  wrong 
and  trains  its  guns  upon  other  wise  and  good  policies 
of  the  party  in  power. 

The  party  in  power  assumes  credit  for  all  initiative, 
all  discovery,  all  progress.  It  represents  the  minority 
party  as  first  offering  all  possible  obstruction  and  then, 
after  defeat,  as  giving  approval  to  the  measure  so 
strenuously  opposed.  It  holds  the  enemy  up  to  ridi- 
cule as  making  progress  only  by  moving  forward  tar- 
dily to  occupy  the  deserted  camps  of  the  party  which 
makes  independent  advancement.  If  the  time  should 
come  that  the  Republicans  are  remanded  to  the  place 
now  filled  by  the  Democrats,  then  they  too  will  develop 
a  disposition  to  continually  criticize  and  obstruct. 
They  too  will  accept  the  settlement  by  the  stronger 
contestant  of  debated  questions  and  move  forward  to 

236 


MAJORITY   AND   MINORITY   PARTIES 

occupy  the  forsaken  strongholds  of  their  progressive 
foes.  These  are  traits  characteristic  of  any  party  in 
continued  opposition. 

Differences  of  a  more  permanent  and  inherent  na- 
ture between  the  two  chief  parties  should  be  pointed 
out.  Some  of  these  have  been  referred  to  in  previous 
chapters.  Variations  in  the  rules  of  the  national  con- 
ventions of  the  two  parties  have  been  thought  signifi- 
cant of  underlying  differences  in  party  principles.  It 
is  the  Democrats  only  who  uniformly  apply  the  unit 
rule  and  the  two-thirds  rule  to  the  conduct  of  the 
national  convention.  Far  more  important,  however, 
is  the  disparity  between  the  parties  in  respect  to  the 
prominence  and  the  significance  of  the  party  machine. 

The  Republican  is  preeminently  the  party  of  or- 
ganization. In  its  origin  it  was  the  outgrowth  of 
conditions  which  led  to  war  and  to  changes  revolu- 
tionary in  character,  and  the  party  was  forced  or 
induced  to  assume  extraordinary  responsibilities.  The 
industrial  world  was  learning  to  place  enhanced  con- 
fidence in  comprehensive  and  thorough  organization. 
Local  institutions  in  the  great  majority  of  the  States 
w^hich  organized  the  party  were  favorable  to  its  vig- 
orous growth  and  to  its  extension  into  all  the  minute 
political  subdivisions.  The  result  has  been  an  ex- 
traordinary predominance  of  machinery  in  the  Repub- 
lican party. 

In  our  comparative  study  of  party  organization  in 
the  two  Republican  States  of  Massachusetts  and  Penn- 
sylvania, it  was  brought  out  that  the  machine  element 
was  of  far  more  consequence  in  one  State  than  in  the 
other.     That  difference,  however,  may  be  explained 

237 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

by  reference  to  the  peculiar  historical  development  of 
the  New  England  States  and  the  unique  political  con- 
ditions which  resulted  from  it.  Circumstances  have 
there  been  less  favorable  to  the  growth  of  a  controlling 
party  machine  than  in  other  sections  of  the  country 
where  the  Republicans  have  gained  ascendancy.  The 
personal  type  of  political  leadership  has  been  espe- 
cially effective  with  the  people  of  New  England,  and 
a  strong  personality,  more  readily  than  in  other  north- 
ern portions  of  the  country,  overrides  the  power  of  the 
machine.  Still,  it  is  apparent  that  even  in  Massachu- 
setts the  tendency  has  been,  in  recent  years,  for  the 
organs  of  the  Republican  party  to  increase  in  sig- 
nificance and  importance. 

When  the  Democratic  party  came  into  being,  more 
than  a  hundred  years  ago,  it  was  an  organization  of 
the  people  to  resist  centralization  in  the  state.  Its 
declared  purpose  was  not  the  achievement  of  great 
deeds,  but  the  prevention  of  great  wrongs.  It  sought 
to  limit  the  range  of  governmental  powers,  and  not  to 
extend  them.  Upon  the  people  of  the  Southern  States 
the  party  early  secured,  and  has  always  retained,  a 
peculiarly  effective  hold,  and  the  distinctive  disposi- 
tion and  traits  of  the  people  of  that  section  have 
doubtless  affected  somewhat  decidedly  the  trend  of 
party  government. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  people  of  the 
South  have  lacked  that  training  in  local  government 
which  is  so  important  an  element  in  the  political  edu- 
cation of  the  people  of  the  North.  Personal  influence 
is  specially  prominent  in  politics ;  political  oratory  is 
more  effective  than  in  the  North ;  the  popular  man  is 

238 


MAJORITY   AND   MINORITY   PARTIES 

a  stronger  force  than  is  skilful  management  of  the 
party  organization;  the  ])nblic  meeting  of  rival  can- 
didates in  joint  debate  has  never  lost  its  place,  and  the 
campaign  is  a  brilliant  rhetorical  struggle  before  the 
electorate.  In  the  printed  rules  governing  the  Demo- 
cratic party  of  South  Carolina  to-day,  the  public  cam- 
paign meeting  is  as  explicitly  provided  for  as  is  the 
primary  election.  It  is  by  the  various  methods  of  an 
open  appeal  that  the  Southern  people  are  most  suc- 
cessfully reached,  and  not  by  the  silent,  hidden  pro- 
cesses of  the  machine.  The  mass  meeting,  the  barbe- 
cue, the  political  discussion,  where  the  voter  comes 
face  to  face  with  the  men  directly  interested  in  his 
political  action, — these  are  the  agencies  for  most  read- 
ily influencing  the  Southern  voter.  Organization, 
whether  in  government  or  in  party,  counts  for  less 
in  the  South  than  elsewhere,  and  the  personality  of  the 
candidate  or  the  officer  for  more.  Even  the  stirring 
experiences  incident  to  the  war  and  the  revolutions 
which  followed,  though  they  furnished  the  Southern 
people  with  much  new  practical  knowledge  of  the  de- 
tails of  political  organization,  have  left  them  still 
behind  their  brethren  of  the  North  in  the  effective 
use  of  party  machinery.  Democratic  organizations  in 
some  of  the  States  assume  and  exercise  the  full  powers 
of  government;  but  the  machine  element  in  that  gov- 
ernment remains  less  significant  than  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  a  similar  situation  is  seen.  The  predominance 
of  the  man  over  the  party  machine  is  not  lost. 

It  appears,  then,  from  the  general  situation  of  the 
present  day,  that  the  Republican  party  stands  for  gov- 
ernment by  machinery.  The  party  as  an  organism  is  of 

239 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

more  consequence  than  the  men  who  guide  its  course. 
Which  of  the  available  candidates  shall  be  chosen  to 
a  given  office  is  a  matter  of  comparative  indifference. 
In  any  event  it  is  the  party  that  will  control,  and  it  is 
the  party  that  counts.  There  are  effective  ways  in  use 
of  overriding  individuals  or  of  neutralizing  their  in- 
fluence. A  rigid  party  discipline  is  exercised.  Indi- 
viduals must  remain  subordinate  to  the  wide  interests 
of  the  great  organization.  The  party  attracts  to  itself 
the  supporters  of  policies  and  principles  rather  than 
the  followers  of  men.  The  mere  suggestion  that  a 
particular  leader  is  necessary  to  the  success  of  the 
party  condemns  that  leader.  It  is  a  standing  party 
boast  that  no  man  is  essential  to  its  success.  Unham- 
pered and  unrestrained,  the  Republican  party  machine 
would  overpower  all  others  till,  becoming  merged  in 
the  state,  it  would  itself  become  the  state. 

Another  spirit  and  other  tendencies  characterize  the 
^national  Democratic  party.  It  lays  stress  upon  the 
value  of  personal  leadership,  and  throws  no  discredit 
upon  the  individual  who  grows  so  great  as  to  be 
thought  to  hold  the  fortunes  of  the  party  in  his  own 
hands.  The  typical  Democrat  thinks  of  his  party  in 
terms  of  the  illustrious  names  which  star  the  pages  of 
its  history ;  the  idea  of  an  institutional  organism  with 
an  acquired  character  independent  of  its  membership 
displeases  and  repels  him ;  he  is  more  restive  than  his 
Republican  antagonist  under  the  trammels  of  organi- 
zation and  more  ready  to  resist  machine  control ;  his 
party  experiences  greater  difficulty  in  making  and 
fulfilling  promises;  for,  while  the  Democratic  leader 
may  speak  freely  for  himself,  he  cannot,  with  the  as- 

240 


IvrAJORITY  AND   MINORITY   PARTIES 

surance  of  the  Republican  politician,  speak  for  his 
party. 

Not  all  the  dissimilarities  of  the  parties  which  have 
been  noted  are  necessarily  fixed  and  unchanging. 
Some,  as  we  have  seen,  are  due  to  loug  retention  of 
official  place  or  to  long  exclusion  from  it ;  others  to  pe- 
culiar features  of  history  or  local  training.  The  pow- 
erful Republican  party  remanded  to  continuous  oppo- 
sition would  doubtless  lose  at  least  a  portion  of  its 
superiority  in  discipline,  and  the  Democrats,  if  long 
in  power,  might  come  to  rely  more  upon  the  skilful 
manipulation  of  elaborate  machinery. 


i«  241 


CHAPTER  XIX 


PARTY  ACCESSORIES 


The  social  side  of  party  life  is  little  appreciated  by 
the  outside  observer;  while  to  those  who  are  within, 
those  who  constitute  the  inner  circle  of  party  man- 
agers, the  social  element  seems  to  be  so  much  a  part 
of  the  common  experience  of  men  as  to  escape  distinct 
recognition.  Men  enjoy  working  for  their  friends,  and 
so  natural  is  the  experience  that  it  furnishes  no  more 
occasion  for  remark  than  does  the  fact  that  men  like 
to  eat  when  they  are  hungry.  A  Philadelphian  who 
had  won  high  rank  as  a  ward  politician  was  asked 
whether  he  knew  of  party  workers  who  received  no 
pay  for  party  service,  who  expected  no  office,  but  who 
did  the  work  because  they  liked  it.  After  hesitating 
a  moment  he  replied :  "  I  did  that  for  ten  years. ' '  As 
a  captain  over  three  hundred  in  one  of  the  poorest 
districts  of  the  city,  he  had  gained  the  confidence  of 
those  under  his  supervision,  and  it  appeared  that  he 
had  enjoyed  and  improved  opportunities  of  doing 
them  kindnesses;  for  he  incidentally  dropped  the  re- 
mark that  the  poor  were  much  more  grateful  than  the 
Avell-to-do.  After  long  refusal  to  take  party  office 
because  he  preferred  to  remain  in  his  own  business,  he 
finally,  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  was  induced  by  the 
insistence  of  party  friends,  to  accept  a  position. 

242 


PARTY  ACCESSORIES 


As  a  member  of  a  political  association,  a  man  is 
taken  out  of  his  little  self  and  becomes,  more  or  less 
consciously,  linked  to  the  mighty  forces  which  rule  the 
world.  To  the  personal  satisfaction  of  seeing  friends 
advanced  and  honored  through  his  efforts  is  added  the 
pleasure  of  participation  in  affairs  of  real  moment. 
Thus  the  social  human  instincts  may  contribute  pow- 
erfully to  the  effectiveness  of  a  party  machine. 

But  the  absorbing  technical  business  of  the  regular 
party  organization  tends,  in  many  ways,  to  interrupt 
the  even  flow  of  social  intercourse,  and  there  has 
therefore  grown  up  alongside  a  multitude  of  accessory 
or  contributory  organizations  and  associations— polit- 
ical clubs  of  infinite  variety,  leagues  and  societies  of 
many  names  and  objects,  not  all  obviously  social  in 
character  or  purpose,  but  all  tributary,  more  or  less 
directly,  to  the  party  forces.  Their  scope  is  wider  than 
that  of  party  membership.  Prospective  voters  in 
schools  and  colleges  are  gathered  into  leagues  in  the 
interest  of  party ;  associations  of  women  are  formed — 
the  Primrose  League  and  the  AVomen's  Liberal  League 
of  Great  Britain  have  become  famous  as  means  for  en- 
abling women  to  aid  in  supplying  effective  support  to 
the  party  of  their  choice,  and  similar  organizations 
are  not  unknown  in  America. 

As  in  other  things  political,  it  is  difficult  to  main- 
tain a  sharp  distinction  between  accessory  party  or- 
gans and  those  which  are  integral.  Tammany  Hall 
originated  in  an  association  of  Democratic  gentlemen 
whose  object  was  to  improve  the  policy  of  their  party. 
Through  the  evolution  of  a  superior  organization,  and 
by  the  assumption  or  absorption  of  the  regular  party 

243 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

functions,  the  society  became  an  integral  part  of  the 
party,  though  it  still  retains  some  of  the  original  char- 
acteristics of  a  mere  party  accessory.  The  local  party 
club  is  often  so  fused  with  the  party  management  as 
to  be  scarcely  distinguishable.  With  the  advent  of 
direct  nomination  under  governmental  control,  a  por- 
tion of  the  party  machinery  becomes  governmental : 
party  committeemen  are  at  the  same  time  officers  of 
state;  a  nomination  often  becomes  virtually  an  elec- 
tion. In  such  circumstances  new  party  organs  appear 
to  select  candidates  for  the  primary  election;  or, 
organs  which  were  previously  accessory  become  reg- 
ular party  agents. 

The  most  important  of  the  present  organizations 
which  supplement  the  work  of  the  national  parties 
are  the  Republican  and  the  Democratic  National 
Leagues.  Their  aim  is  to  bring  together  under  a  com- 
pact national,  state,  district,  and  local  association  the 
chief  supplemental  agencies  for  the  promotion  of  party 
interests,  and  the  plan  of  organization  follows  closely 
that  of  the  regular  parties. 

The  Republican  National  League  was  formed  in 
December,  1887,  at  a  meeting  of  delegates  in  New  York 
City.  It  was  based  upon  and  grew  out  of  previous 
organizations  in  the  different  States.  Its  national 
organs  are  a  national  convention,  held  annually,  unless 
the  previous  convention  or  the  executive  committee 
directs  otherwise,  and  an  executive  committee,  con- 
sisting of  one  member  from  each  State  and  Territory, 
with  the  president,  secretary,  and  treasurer  of  the 
league  as  ex  officio  members.  The  convention  follows 
the  model  of  the  National  Nominating  Convention  in 

244 


PARTY   ACCESSORIES 


its  composition.  Article  III.  of  the  constitution  of  the 
league  declares  its  object  to  be:  ''To  encourage  and  as- 
sist in  the  formation  of  permanent  Republican  clubs 
and  State  leagues  for  effective  and  organized  work, 
and  generally  to  advance  the  principles  of  the  Repub- 
lican party."  The  national  convention  of  the  league 
held  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  1896,  recommended  the 
Iowa  plan  of  state  and  local  organization  for  adoption 
by  the  States  and  minor  areas.  This  scheme  pro- 
vides that  the  county  league  shall  unite  the  clubs 
within  the  county ;  the  congressional  district  league 
those  of  the  counties  composing  the  district;  while 
the  state  league  unites  and  presides  over  all.  The 
league  of  each  separate  area  attends  especially  to  the 
party  interests  of  that  area. 

It  is  intended  that  the  league  shall  be  coextensive 
with  the  party ;  that  it  shall  work  incessantly,  so  that 
when  nominations  are  made  there  shall  be  already  at 
hand  an  organized  body  of  active  and  alert  party  sup- 
porters to  render  aid  to  and  cooperate  with  the  county, 
district,  and  state  committees  in  the  conduct  of  the 
campaign.  The  constitutions  and  rules,  both  national 
and  local,  give  emphasis  to  the  intention  that  the 
league  shall  take  no  part  in  making  nominations.  It 
is  not  to  seek  to  influence  national,  state,  county,  or 
municipal  conventions  in  any  manner,  "nor  shall  it 
indicate,  as  a  league,  any  preference  for  any  candi- 
date." In  other  words,  it  is  intended  that  the  sup- 
plemental association  shall  omit  from  its  labors  all 
participation  in  matters  which  tend  to  faction,  and 
confine  itself  to  those  lines  of  influence  which  promote 
harmony.     It  is  described  as  "a  school  of  political 

245 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

science";  as  related  to  the  party  "as  schools  and 
colleges  are  to  the  business  world ;  the  preacher  to  the 
church;  the  recruiting  officer  to  the  army." 

In  the  pamphlet  containing  the  constitution  in  force 
in  the  year  1900,  mention  is  made  of  the  fact  that  the 
Republican  College  League  had  affiliated  and  been 
admitted  to  representation  in  the  national  convention ; 
that  the  Women's  Republican  League  would  be  rep- 
resented at  the  next  convention,  and  that  the  Repub- 
can  Traveling  Men  were  endeavoring  to  secure 
representation. 

The  local  political  club  may  be  called  the  primary 
of  the  party  league.  It  is  the  chief  working  organ,  and 
its  duties  are  multifarious.  If  instructions  are  fol- 
lowed the  club  holds  frequent  meetings;  engages  in 
discussions;  prepares  papers  on  assigned  topics;  ar- 
ranges for  social  gatherings  with  musical  and  other 
programs  and  accompanying  refreshments  of  a  more 
material  sort;  circulates  political  speakers  from  club 
to  club,  etc.,  etc.  Sociability  is  combined  with  earnest 
efforts  to  promote  the  party  welfare.  Such  a  club 
system  accommodates  itself  to  all  the  various  classes 
of  actual  or  possible  party  supporters.  A  single  city 
of  moderate  size  may  furnish  a  long  list  of  Irish,  Scan- 
dinavian, Hebrew,  negro,  and  many  other  political 
clubs. 

There  are  party  accessories  of  other  types,  having 
no  social  objects  and  perhaps  placing  general  party 
interests  below  the  advancement  of  some  particular 
principle  or  policy.  Such  is  the  Protectionist  League, 
which,  as  the  name  implies,  exists  for  the  promotion 
of  the  policy  of  protection.    In  the  main  it  has  been 

246 


PARTY  ACCESSORIES 


an  adjunct  to  the  Republican  party,  because  that  party 
has  favored  protection.  For  a  similar  reason,  though 
less  definitely  and  decidedly,  the  Free  Trade  League 
has  been  tributary  to  the  Democratic  party.  These 
organizations  are  maintained  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
ducting a  continuous  agitation  in  the  interest  of  cer- 
tain economic  theories  and  their  practical  application 
to  national  policies.  Each  of  them  serves  as  a  propa- 
ganda for  a  specific  doctrine  whose  application  to 
national  affairs  may  be  made  a  party  issue.  Almost 
any  effort  of  the  sort  may  become  an  aid  to  one  or  the 
other  of  the  parties.  Party  issues  are  to  a  large  extent 
determined  by  such  organized  competing  efforts  for  the 
propagation  of  specific  views  or  principles. 

Or,  the  organization  may  take  the  field  as  an  organ- 
ized political  party.  In  that  case  it  assumes  the  atti- 
tude of  a  rival  to  both  the  great  parties.  Yet  it  nearly 
always  happens  that  the  third  party  really  strengthens 
one  of  the  others  by  attracting  votes  from  its  chief 
rival.  The  Prohibition  party,  for  example,  draws  to 
itself  votes  which  would  otherwise  go  to  the  Republi- 
cans; while  the  Populist  party  aids  the  Republicans 
by  withdrawing  support  from  the  Democrats.  It  is 
characteristic  of  the  third  party  to  attract  its  following 
from  that  one  of  the  leading  parties  which  is  more 
nearly  in  sympathy  with  its  special  contention.  Some- 
times a  third  party  is  extemporized  out  of  the  member- 
ship of  one  of  the  chief  parties  with  the  deliberate 
•  intent  of  securing  party  favor  for  a  desired  reform 
or  for  a  change  in  policy  by  threatening  its  defeat. 
This  is  the  natural  course  of  the  independent  party 
voter. 

247 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

Still  other  organizations  there  are  which  in  no 
proper  sense  admit  of  classification  either  as  party  ac- 
cessories or  party  substitutes,  but  which,  nevertheless, 
condition  and  modify  the  working  of  the  party  system. 

Just  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  suddenly  arose 
that  remarkable  enterprise  in  the  line  of  organization 
known  as  the  Grange  and  composed  of  the  farmers  of 
the  country.  The  farmers  of  the  United  States  con- 
stitute by  far  the  largest  and  the  most  intelligent  of 
our  industrial  classes,  and  so  far-reaching  a  movement 
as  that  of  the  Grange  could  not  but  be  both  significant 
and,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  effective.  Its  objects 
were  industrial,  political,  and  social.  Entering  the 
political  arena  in  the  early  seventies,  the  Grange  be- 
came in  many  States  a  power  commanding  recognition 
and  consideration.  It  elected  legislatures  and  enacted 
laws  for  the  control  of  railways  and  other  corpora- 
tions in  the  interest  of  the  agricultural  classes.  In 
course  of  a  few  years  the  organization  dropped  out  of 
politics.  It  was  found  that  the  Grange  could  not 
continue  to  hold  a  prominent  place  in  politics  and  at 
the  same  time  fulfil  its  distinctive  social  and  industrial 
mission.  Nevertheless,  the  existence  of  the  farmers' 
associations  which  remain,  comprehending  as  they  do 
so  large  a  proportion  of  a  very  numerous  class,  is  a 
fact  not  without  a  possible  political  bearing.  The 
organizations  are,  in  effect,  a  training  school  furnish- 
ing instruction  and  experience  in  cooperative  effort 
and  preparing  a  large  body  of  citizens  for  more  intel- 
ligent and  more  effective  political  action.  They  also 
take  the  place  of  political  clubs  in  providing  desirable 
opportunities  for  social  enjoyment. 

248 


PARTY   ACCESSORIES 


Next  to  the  farmers  in  number  among  the  industrial 
classes  are  the  wage  earners,  and  the  laborers  are 
likewise  in  attendance  upon  schools  of  organization 
which  train  for  associated  effort.  One  of  these,  the 
Knights  of  Labor,  put  forward  a  political  program 
which,  if  logically  carried  through,  would  supply  a 
substitute  for  the  entire  party  system.  The  Knights 
proposed  to  include  in  their  organization  all  classes  of 
the  people,  except  a  few  to  be  eliminated  by  their  re- 
forms ;  and  by  means  of  the  huge  machine  they  would 
conduct  the  affairs  of  state.  This  ambitious  aspiration, 
like  that  of  the  Grange,  received  a  check ;  but  so  acute 
are  the  disorders  which  labor  organizations  seek  to 
alleviate,  so  pressing  are  the  issues  which  they  repre- 
sent, so  constantly  are  they  before  the  public,,  so  in- 
sistently do  they  demand  attention  from  government 
authorities,  that  they  cannot  be  shoved  into  the  back- 
ground or  be  ever  far  removed  from  a  place  among 
foremost  political  questions.  Whether  or  not  any  of 
the  various  devices  of  the  workingmen  ever  becomes 
a  practical  substitute  for  the  existing  party  system,  it 
is  certain  that  already  the  labor  organizations  com- 
mand a  much  larger  share  of  the  interest  and  the  de- 
votion of  the  wage-earning  class  than  does  either  of  the 
political  parties. 

To  offer  a  substitute  for  party  implies  opposition 
to  the  system,  or  at  least  a  belief  in  the  possibility  of 
something  better.  A  party  substitute,  therefore,  pre- 
sents a  contrast  to  the  party  accessory.  Despite  the 
remarkable  development  of  the  party  system  and  the 
wide-spread  conviction  that  it  is  necessary  and  perma- 
nent, there  have  always  been  many  to  oppose  it  in 

249 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

toto,  and  many  more  who  believe  that  something 
better  might  be  devised.  Many  opponents  suggest  no 
substitute  other  than  an  indefinite  and  transcendental 
individual  righteousness,  and  of  those  which  have  been 
offered  rarely  has  one  gained  a  general  hearing. 

The  theory  of  the  Socialistic  state  has  attracted 
much  attention,  and  its  practical  application  has  been 
seriously  advocated.  In  practice  it  would  eliminate 
party,  but  the  other  time-honored  institutions  which  it 
would  also  eliminate  are  apparently  of  much  more 
consequence.  That  it  would  substitute  public  for  pri- 
vate ownership  of  the  agencies  of  production  has  over- 
shadowed in  general  consideration  its  necessary  effect 
upon  political  parties. 

Under  the  present  system,  the  organized  party  is 
made  an  instrument  of  government.  To  it  are  in- 
trusted in  a  very  real  sense  the  legislative  and  execu- 
tive duties  of  the  government.  That  is,  the  party, 
viewed  as  a  corporate  body,  is  regarded  as  responsible 
both  for  the  making  and  the  administering  of  the  laws 
of  city.  State,  and  nation.  This  is  true,  although  only 
a  very  small  fraction  of  such  business  involves  any 
party  issue.  Party  government,  however,  carried  to  the 
extremest  possible  limit  will  still  leave  outside  of  its 
scope  a  far  larger  range  of  governmental  business 
which  is  non-partizan.  The  great  body  of  laws  made 
and  enforced  affect  the  welfare  of  one  party  precisely 
as  they  do  that  of  another.  Democrats  and  Republi- 
cans alike  desire  the  protection  of  property,  the  sup- 
pression of  disorder,  and  the  maintenance  of  sanitary 
conditions  of  life.  By  common  consent,  the  great  de- 
partment of  the  judiciary  is  held  responsible,  not  to  a 

250 


PARTY   ACCESSORIES 


political  party,  but  to  the  whole  people.  A  party 
which  should  gain  a  reputation  for  seeking  to  control 
the  judiciary  in  a  partizan  way  wn:)uld  receive  general 
condemnation. 

The  proper  limitation  of  party  powers  and  responsi- 
bility is  a  point  upon  which  opinions  differ  widely, 
but  extreme  views  on  either  side  tend  alike  to  the 
destruction  of  democratic  government  by  means  of 
parties.  Thus,  if,  by  continued  access  of  party  power 
and  the  assumption  of  a  wider  range  of  responsibilty 
in  the  government,  a  party  succeeds  in  actually  taking 
charge  of  and  conducting  every  sort  of  governmental 
business,  that  party  becomes  the  government  and  the 
balanced  party  system  is  destroyed  (as  appears  in 
certain  of  the  Southern  States  to-day).  The  extreme 
advocate  of  government  by  party  would  in  practice 
subvert  party  and  substitute  government  by  a  limited 
class,  which  would  be  no  longer  democratic.  So  long, 
therefore,  as  the  two  parties  hold  their  legitimate 
place  in  the  dual  system,  the  field  of  party  government 
will  remain  restricted.  Extremists  on  the  other  side, 
who  would  so  narrow  the  function  of  party  as  to  leave 
nothing  of  corporate  party  responsibility  for  the  con- 
duct of  the  government,  but  would  make  public  offi- 
cials, one  and  all,  answerable  to  the  state  alone,  would, 
with  equal  effectiveness,  destroy  the  present  system 
of  party  government. 

By  the  introduction  of  the  popular  initiative  and  the 
referendum,  many  believe  that  the  evils  of  our  party 
system  would  be  obviated,  while  its  advantages  would 
be  retained.  The  Republic  of  Switzerland  carries  on 
its  government  with  signal  success  upon  these  princi- 

251 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

pies.  Political  parties  exist  there  for  purposes  of  de- 
bate, to  formulate  public  opinion,  make  nominations, 
and  elect  officers  of  state ;  but  when  a  party  candidate 
becomes  an  officer  of  the  government  his  responsibility 
to  his  party  is  at  an  end ;  he  is  responsible  only  to  the 
public  as  a  whole.  The  government  of  the  republic 
is  not  party  government.  In  place  of  two  great  or- 
ganizations pitted  against  each  other  and  struggling 
for  the  control  of  the  state,  are  some  half  dozen  politi- 
cal groups,  each  advocating  more  or  less  distinctive 
measures  or  policies,  and  each  sending  representatives 
to  the  legislature.  Men  are  appointed  to  official  po- 
sitions without  regard  to  party  connection,  or,  if  party 
receives  any  recognition  at  all,  the  aim  is  to  give 
proportionate  representation  to  all.  If  the  people  are 
dissatisfied  with  any  act  of  the  legislature,  they  may, 
by  petition,  secure  the  submission  of  the  measure  to 
popular  vote.  If  the  members  fail  to  introduce  the 
bills  which  the  people  demand,  the  people  may,  by  pe- 
tition, initiate  legislation  and  gain  for  themselves  a 
chance  to  vote  upon  a  desired  law. 

Political  reform  by  means  of  direct  legislation,  or 
popular  initiative  and  the  referendum,  is  now  clearly 
within  the  field  of  serious  debate  in  the  United  States. 
It  embodies  the  one  definite  proposition  for  a  thorough- 
going substitute  for  party  government.  Some  of  its 
advocates  definitely  aim  at  the  complete  elimination  of 
party  government.  They  would  retain  the  Democratic, 
the  Republican,  the  Populist,  and  other  parties  merely 
to  discuss  public  questions,  make  nominations,  and 
carry  elections,  but  would  do  away  with  all  party 
authority  over  elected  officers  and  make  them  answer- 

252 


PARTY   ACCESSORIES 


able  solely  to  the  state  for  their  official  conduct.  A 
member  of  a  party  having  taken  the  oath  of  office,  or 
having  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  legislative  cham- 
ber, would  be  thereby  separated,  for  the  time,  from  his 
party  and  made  the  servant  of  the  one  corporate  body 
which  embraces  all  the  people — that  is,  the  state.  No 
party  would  profess  to  actually  conduct  the  govern- 
ment of  the  state,  or  could  claim  official  loyalty  to 
party  from  its  representatives  in  public  positions, 
though  it  might  point  with  pride  to  the  superior  ex- 
cellence of  the  non-partizan  service  to  the  whole  coun- 
try rendered  by  those  elected  from  its  own  ranks. 

Neither  Switzerland  nor  America  has  had  experience 
in  carrying  on  democratic  government  under  both 
these  party  systems.  A  Swiss  statesman  has  no  more 
comprehension  of  the  meaning  of  the  term  party  gov- 
ernment, as  it  is  used  in  the  United  States,  than  has 
an  American  politician  of  the  term  political  party, 
applied  to  an  organization  which,  having  secured  a 
legislative  majority,  promptly  divests  itself  of  all 
party  responsibility  for  official  conduct.  Great  gain 
might  accrue  to  the  cause  of  popular  government 
should  a  republic  which  had  made  a  thorough  test  of 
one  of  these  methods  make  afterward  a  fair  trial  of  the 
other. 

Whether  the  adoption  of  the  Swiss  system  in  the 
United  States  would,  after  all,  have  the  expected  effect 
of  eliminating  all  idea  of  party  responsibility  in  the 
conduct  of  the  government,  may  well  be  doubted. 
Many  of  those  who  favor  the  change  have  no  such  in- 
tention. They  would  retain  the  two  great,  balanced 
organizations    with    their    present    functions.      The 

253 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

parties  would  formulate  opinion,  conduct  campaigns, 
elect  officers  who  should  be  bound  by  definite  party 
pledges  to  do  certain  things,  and  would  still  be  held, 
in  a  way,  to  a  sort  of  corporate  responsibility  for  the 
fulfilment  of  pledges, — that  is,  for  a  portion  of  the 
governmental  business.  The  initiative  and  the  ref- 
erendum would  become  additional  agencies  for  secur- 
ing from  the  parties  the  fulfilment  of  popular 
demands. 

The  movement  for  the  reform  of  the  civil  service 
has  been  regarded  by  some  as  an  attempt  to  introduce 
a  substitute  for  party  government.  That  is,  however, 
a  mistaken  view.  Civil  service  reform,  in  all  its 
relations  to  city,  state,  and  national  government,  has, 
indeed,  as  one  of  its  objects,  the  increase  of  that  sec- 
tion of  official  life  from  which  the  idea  of  responsibil- 
ity to  a  party  organization  is  wholly  removed  and 
direct  accountability  to  the  general  public  substituted. 
But  the  movement  is  in  no  sense  an  attack  upon  party 
government.  It  offers  no  substitute  for  the  system 
in  vogue,  but  rather  aims  to  make  it  more  effective. 
The  reformers  place  special  emphasis  upon  the  need  of 
party  responsibility.  They  seek  to  make  it  easier  to 
enforce  such  responsibility  by  limiting  the  field  of 
party  control  more  nearly  to  those  officials  who  have 
to  do  with  those  policies  of  state  which  are  subjects  of 
party  controversy.  They  draw  a  line  between  those 
who  exercise  executive  discretion  and  those  who 
merely  administer  laws  and  executive  rules,  viewing 
one  class  as  naturally  and  properly  partizan,  the  other 
as  strictly  non-partizan.  The  President,  the  members 
of  his  cabinet,  and  a  few  others  in  high  position  may 

254 


PARTY  ACCESSORIES 


best  serve  the  whole  people  by  the  very  fact  of  their 
firm  loyalty  to  party  pledges ;  while  the  work  of  sub- 
ordinate public  servants  should  be  uninfluenced  by 
any  thought  of  party  interest.  In  so  far  as  the  reform 
affects  the  legislative  department  of  government,  it 
works  to  the  same  end.  It  would  take  from  the  legis- 
lators the  power  of  appointment  and  confine  their 
activities  to  the  narrower  field  of  making  laws  and 
voting  supplies,  with  the  idea  that  where  party  issues 
are  involved,  party  responsibility  may  thus  be  made 
more  effective. 

For  information  upon  the  Republican  and  Democratic  Na- 
tional Leagues,  see  the  publications  of  the  organizations.  The 
National  Federation  for  Majority  Rule  is  a  source  of  recent  in- 
formation as  to  the  movement  in  favor  of  the  referendum.  Its 
secretary  is  George  H.  Sibley,  "Washington,  D.  C. 

C.  C.  P.  Clark,  in  a  volume  entitled  "  The  Machine  Abolished,  '* 
proposes  as  a  substitute  for  the  party  system  an  organization  of 
the  entire  people.  For  the  substitute  suggested  by  M.  Ostro- 
gorski,  see  his  work,  ''Democracy  and  the  Organization  of  Po- 
litical Parties,"  Vol.  11,  p.  658. 


255 


/ 


CHAPTER    XX 

THE    PARTY    AS    A    TEACHING    AGENCY 

According  to  the  democratic  theory  the  people  are 
in  the  position  of  supreme  authority.  They  ordain 
and  establish  constitutions,  create  organs  of  govern- 
ment, and  enact  laws  by  direct  vote  or  through 
chosen  representatives.  In  their  corporate  or  organic 
capacity  the  people  constitute  the  state.  In  theory, 
those  composing  the  entire  citizenship  are  at  the  same 
time  both  rulers  and  subjects.  Whether  the  organs 
through  which  they  act  are  general  or  local,  there  is 
one  sole  source  of  authority,— that  is,  the  people. 

In  order  to  realize  their  position  as  a  state,  or  a 
corporate  body  politic,  the  people  must  have  organs 
for  the  expression  of  their  will.  We  apply  the  term 
government  to  the  entire  body  of  state  agencies  or 
instrumentalities  which  the  people  use.  In  this  gen- 
eral sense,  government  includes  all  public  offices  or 
institutions,  from  those  of  the  school  district  to  the 
highest  Federal  offices  at  Washington.  Through  the 
organs  of  government  the  state  is  made  real.  Each 
particular  office,  as  the  presidency  or  a  governorship, 
is  in  a  sense  subordinate  to  the  state :  each  is  an 
agency  of  the  sovereign  people.  The  state  alone  is 
supreme ;  government  is,  in  theory,  subordinate.    But 

256 


THE  PARTY  AS  A  TEACHING  AGENCY 

since  the  state  can  act  only  through  an  instrumen- 
tality which  is  classified  as  an  organ  of  government, 
the  authority  of  government  is,  in  practice,  made  to 
coincide  with  the  authority  of  the  state,  and  the 
government  transcends  in  authority  every  other  or- 
ganization. 

We  also  apply  the  term  government  to  the  various 
activities  of  the  state.  Whatever  the  state  does  is  an 
act  of  government.  The  building  of  highways  and 
the  maintenance  of  public  schools  and  public  libra- 
ries are  acts  of  government.  But  a  large  share  of 
public  attention  has  been  given  to  a  limited  class 
of  the  acts  of  government  in  which  the  services  of  the 
policeman  and  the  soldier  are  made  conspicuous. 

A  sustained  intellectual  effort  is  required  in  order 
to  comprehend  the  relation  of  the  citizen  to  the  demo- 
cratic state ;  but  no  eft'ort  at  all  is  needed  for  under- 
standing the  generally  accepted  view  of  the  relation 
of  a  master  to  a  slave  or  that  of  a  despot  to  a  subject. 
The  master  wills,  the  slave  renders  services;  the  des- 
pot commands,  the  subject  obeys.  Ideas  of  govern- 
ment have  been  formed  by  observing  these  relations 
and  those  of  the  helpless  masses  of  the  people  to  a 
government  in  which  they  are  not  represented.  These 
relations  appear  comparatively  simple;  they  involve 
the  common  element  of  command  on  the  part  of  one 
person  or  class  coupled  with  obedience  on  the  part  of 
another;  one  class  is  regarded  as  invariably  subject 
to  the  will  of  another  class.  Government,  as  thus 
presented,  means  the  compelling  of  men  to  act 
against  their  own  wills. 

But  in  political  discussion,  terms  which  are  easily 
1"  257 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

understood  are  likely  to  be  inadequate  or  erroneous 
when  applied  to  social  relations.  Thus  it  was  never 
true  in  any  large  and  important  sense  that  slaves 
were  entirely  subject  to  the  will  of  masters.  Slaves 
have  always  possessed  wills  of  their  own,  and  masters 
have  been  guided  and  in  many  ways  controlled  by  the 
will  of  the  slaves.  The  apparently  simple  relation  is 
actually  complex,  and  the  conduct  of  each  party  is  a 
resultant  of  opposing  forces  generated  in  different 
minds,  of  activities  set  in  motion  by  contradictory 
wills,  of  the  play  of  a  multitude  of  emotions  and  senti- 
ments. Slaves,  as  individuals  and  as  a  class,  have 
influenced  the  conduct  of  masters,  and  even  more  is 
it  true  in  a  great  state  that  the  course  of  despots  has 
been  modified  and  their  conduct  restrained  by  the 
attitude  of  their  subjects.  No  state  was  ever  really 
governed  by  the  will  of  one  ruler  or  by  that  of  a  lim- 
ited, clearly  defined  class.  The  choices,  the  will,  and 
the  opinions  of  subjects  are  always  a  factor  in  the 
government  of  any  state.  In  the  history  of  states,  it 
is  clear  that  the  share  of  subjects  in  the  conduct  of 
government  has  been  the  growing  factor.  States 
subject  to  tyrannical  rule  have  been  weakened  and 
made  a  prey  to  others  having  a  larger  measure  of  the 
willing  cooperation  of  subjects.  The  willing  cooper- 
ation of  subjects  has  ever  been  a  conserving  element, 
and  it  is  this  fact  which  has  given  rise  to  the  idea  of 
the  democratic  state.  By  observing  the  destructive 
tendencies  of  tyranny  and  the  enduring  and  con- 
servative tendencies  of  the  cooperation  of  citizens 
for  the  commonweal,  a  few  philosophers  finally 
grasped  the  idea  that  the  state  would  be  made  safer 

258 


THE   PxVRTY  AS  A   TEACHING   AGENCY 

by  discarding  the  ruling  class  altogether,  and  resting 
simply  upon  the  voluntary  cooperation  of  the  entire 
body  of  the  citizens  as  the  basis  of  authority. 

The  model,  then,  for  the  democratic  state  is  the 
voluntary  organization.  The  state  is  the  one  organic 
body  which  has  full  power  to  make  its  will  go.  It 
may  do  what  it  wills  to  do.  No  such  state,  indeed, 
has  yet  been  realized  to  the  full.  When  the  citizens 
of  the  state  fail  to  achieve  freedom  in  forming  and 
executing  their  own  will,  they  thereby  become  or  re- 
main partially  subject  to  the  wnll  of  the  few.  Ex- 
perience seems  to  prove  that  rather  than  incur  con- 
tinued anarchy,  some  form  of  despotism  will  be 
endured. 

Our  system  of  dual  party  government  seems  to  be 
well  adapted  to  an  age  of  transition  from  despotism 
to  democracy.  Each  party  is  emphatically  a  volun- 
tary organization,  coextensive  with  the  government 
and  having  organs  corresponding  to  those  of  the 
government.  The  two  parties  together  actually  or 
potentially  include  the  entire  citizenship.  In  respect 
to  the  great  body  of  state  policies,  past  and  present, 
the  two  parties  are  at  one.  Together  they  represent 
and  express  the  will  of  the  whole  people  upon  the 
wide  range  of  public  questions  which  are  not  con- 
troverted. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  find  an  occasional  phi- 
losopher who  recognizes  the  possibilities  of  a  demo- 
cratic state,  but  it  is  a  tremendous  task  to  get  the 
masses  of  the  people  to  perceive  anything  of  the  sort. 
5  The  people  feel  that  in  matters  of  state  they  are 
^victims  of  powers  beyond  their  control.    They  always 

259 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

have  so  felt,  and  without  something  approaching  a 
miracle  they  always  will.  Even  in  America,  after 
many  generations  of  unrivaled  opportunity  for  the 
unrestricted  exercise  of  powers,  this  feeling  is  strong 
and  persistent. 

One  of  the  greatest  services  of  the  party  system  is 
its  share  in  teaching  the  masses  of  the  people  to  be- 
lieve in  their  own  power  of  political  achievement. 
Party  leaders  of  every  name  and  rank  emphasize  the 
will  of  the  people  as  the  one  all-powerful  factor  in 
government.  It  may  be  answered  that  the  will  of  the 
people  has  not  been  made  supreme,  that  they  are  still 
subject  to  powers  beyond  their  control.  But  that  is 
another  matter.  That  the  masses  have  to  so  large 
.  an  extent  been  taught  to  believe  in  their  own  possi- 
bilities is  in  itself  an  achievement  of  great  im- 
portance. The  hundred  years  of  the  preaching  of 
democracy  has  had  its  effect.  A  new  base  line  for 
political  aspiration  has  thus  been  formed.  Belief  in 
democracy  is  a  necessary  prerequisite  to  its  attain- 
ment. 
k  Another  significant  service  rendered  by  the  party 
'system  is  found  in  the  emphasis  given  to  the  impor- 
tance of  government.  Ages  of  tyranny  and  oppres- 
sion have  given  rise  to  a  deep-rooted  prejudice 
against  government.  The  masses  of  the  people  are 
deluded  by  despotic  notions  of  government.  The 
term  itself  is  defined  in  the  language  of  tyranny.  It 
is  viewed  as  involving  enforced  submission  to  the  will 
of  another.  The  anarchist  is  one  who  has  attained 
a  dim  vision  of  the  democratic  state  while  yet  under 
duress  from  the  despotic  definition  of  government. 

260 


THE  PARTY  AS  A  TEACHING  AGENCY 

This  lack  of  harmony  in  definition  between  state 
and  government  has  given  rise  to  the  demand  that 
government  should  be  confined  to  the  narrowest  pos- 
sible limits,  leaving  to  the  individual  the  widest 
possible  field  for  free  activity.  Government  is  de- 
fined as  despotism,  therefore  let  us  have  as  little  of  it 
as  possible. 

The  party  of  Jefferson  was  organized  in  part  to  \ 
give  expression  to  the  popular  prejudice  against  gov-  A 
ernment.    But  so  soon  as  this  party  came  into  power  U 
it  entered  upon  a  career  of  brilliant  governmental  \1 
achievement.      It    acquired    territory;    it    protected     » 
Spanish-American   republics   against   European    ag- 
gressions; it  extended  the  franchise,  and  did  many 
things  to  which  party  leaders  have  ever  after  pointed 
with  pride.     It  is  difficult  to  see  how  a  party  could 
do  more  to  undermine  prejudice  against  government 
than  did  the  party  of  Jefferson,  which  gained  ascen- 
dancy by  giving  expression  to  that  prejudice. 

In  the  nature  of  the  case  each  political  party  must 
exalt  its  own  deeds.  No  party  can  win  and  hold  officq\ 
by  emphasizing  a  mere  negative  policy  of  preventing  ' 
evil.  Hence  the  party  system,  in  its  normal  working, 
exalts  the  governmental  function  and  tends  to  re- 
move prejudice  by  changing  the  definition  of  gov- 
ernment, so  that  government  itself  is  coming  to  be 
viewed,  not  as  something  imposed  upon  the  unwilling, 
but  as  an  achievement  of  the  free  voluntary  body. 

In  the  meantime,  invention  and  industrial  organiza- 
tion have  immensely  increased  the  necessity  for  or- 
ganized cooperative  effort.  This  involves  new  duties 
and  imposes  new  burdens  upon  the  state.     The  indi- 

261 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

vidual  counts  for  less  while  organization  counts  for 
more  than  under  earlier  industrial  conditions.  The 
people  are  threatened  with  new  forms  of  despotism 
by  the  appearance  of  organizations  stronger  and  more 
effective  than  the  government.  That  which  is  called 
the  government  is  made  simply  a  competitor  for 
power  with  other  organizations.  In  the  end  the 
strongest  organization  will  be  the  government.  The 
only  means  of  escape  from  despotic  rule  for  the  entire 
body  of  citizens  is  by  magnifying  the  functions  of  the 
one  organization  which  includes  them  all,  that  is,  the 
state  itself,  acting  through  its  appropriate  organs,  the 
government.  In  so  far  as  the  political  parties  exalt 
'■the  functions  of  government  they  tend  to  make  the 
pberty  of  the  individual  more  secure  against  the  des- 
potic power  of  a  competing  organization. 

To  say  that  our  party  system,  in  its  normal  work- 
ing, tends  to  destroy  the  partizan  spirit  and  to  unite 
the  people  in  support  of  the  government  would  seem 
a  contradiction  in  terms.  Yet  there  is  much  about 
the  system  which  makes  such  a  view  worth  consid- 
ering. 

In  the  first  place  it  should  be  observed  that  the 
party  system  did  not  introduce  the  spirit  of  hostilit}^ 
and  division  in  the  state,  which  tends  to  its  destruc- 
tion. Warring  factions  in  the  older  despotic  states 
were  much  more  bitter  and  cruel.  Their  conflicts 
often  took  the  form  of  civil  war.  Often  the  safety 
of  the  state  seemed  to  require  the  victorious  faction 
to  mete  out  summary  punishment  to  the  enemy.  It 
was  a  great  gain  when  it  was  found  possible  to  allow 
the  leaders  of  the  rival  faction  not  only  to  live  but 

262 


THE  PARTY  AS  A  TEACHING  AGENCY 

to  continue  in  official  position  as  critics  of  the  ruling 
faction.  In  its  very  beginning,  then,  the  political 
party  indicated  the  coming  of  a  new  spirit  of  modera- 
tion and  self-control.  A  war  of  words  is  not  as  cruel 
as  a  warfare  which  involves  the  expectation  of  incur- 
ring or  inflicting  the  death  penalty.  In  its  origin, 
the  party  was  less  partizan  than  the  faction  which  it 
displaced,  and  in  its  development  it  has  tended  tqj 
become  more  moderate  and  reasonable.  The  move-l 
ment  toward  the  realization  of  the  democratic  ideal! 
is  characterized  by  a  decrease  of  partizan  animosityi 
There  is  much  in  the  ordinary  working  of  the  two 
parties  which  is  fitted  to  diminish  partizan  enmity, 
^he  points  of  agreement  between  the  two  parties 
vastly  outnumber  the  points  of  disagreement^;.  The 
parties  appeal  to  the  same  constituency,  and,  as  to\ 
the  great  body  of  laws  and  customs  and  policies,  they  ' 
say  the  same  things.  For  instance,  both  parties  be- 
lieve in  economy  and  efficiency  in  government.  The"^ 
principles  of  economy  and  efficiency  can  never  be  a 
partizan  issue.  Yet  the  degree  of  economy  and  effi- 
ciency which  ought  to  be  attained  at  a  given  time 
and  place  is  always  a  leading  subject  of  controversy 
between  the  two  parties  which  appear  as  merely  rival 
agencies  for  the  accomplishment  of  ends  universally 
recognized  as  desirable.  There  is  here  no  ground  for 
bitter  or  lasting  resentment. 

Members  of  the  two  parties  cooperate  in  the  busi- 
ness of  government.  In  nearly  every  legislative  com- 
mittee both  are  represented.  In  some  of  the  adminis- 
trative commissions  the  law  requires  representation 
of  the  two  parties,   and   in   very  many  more   such 

263 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

courtesy  is  voluntarily  extended  by  the  ruling  party. 
Liberality  in  the  treatment  of  the  members  of  the 
minority  is  good  policy  on  the  part  of  the  majority. 

The  normal  way  to  strengthen  a  party  is  by  win- 
ning supporters  from  the  opposition.  This  can  be 
A  better  done  by  persuasion  and  the  fair  presentation 
'of  real  issues  than  by  misrepresentation  and  abuse. 
The  public  speaker  who  excels  in  vituperation  is 
likely  to  weaken  rather  than  to  strengthen  the  party 
he  represents.  The  party  leader  who  loses  his  temper 
is  almost  sure  to  suffer  loss.  Successful  party  leader- 
ship involves  the  ability  to  maintain  at  least  the  ap- 
pearance of  good  humor. 

What  is  here  called  the  partizan  spirit  is  to  be 
carefully  distinguished  from  a  hearty  belief  in  and 
a  loyal  support  of  the  party  system.  Belief  in  the 
system  does  not  necessarily  involve  a  partizan  spirit. 
On  the  contrary,  the  prolongation  of  the  system  in  a 
state  which  is  intelligently  and  progressively  demo- 
cratic is  likely  to  depend  upon  the  ability  of  its 
supporters  to  attain  a  non-partizan  spirit. 


264 


CHAPTER   XXI 


PARTY    LOYALTY 


Some  of  the  strongest  indictments  against  the  party 
system  are  based  upon  the  assumption  that  the  party 
organization  commands  a  devotion  greater  than  does 
the  state  itself;  that  citizens  are  trained  to  go  with 
their  party,  right  or  wrong,  and  that  the  state  is 
endangered  on  account  of  a  supreme  devotion  to 
party. 

In  so  far  as  this  is  true  the  system  stands  con- 
demned. If  it  were  once  conceded  that  the  party 
system  tends  to  detract  from  loyalty  to  the  state,  to 
command  a  higher  degree  of  devotion  to  a  partizan 
section  of  the  government,  it  would  lose  practically 
all  of  its  intelligent  supporters. 

The  advocates  of  the  system  maintain  precisely  the 
opposite  assumption.  The  party,  in  their  view,  is  an 
organization  whose  sole  reason  for  existence  is  service 
to  the  state.  There  is  no  possibility  of  conflict  be- 
tween loyalty  to  party  and  loyalty  to  the  state.  The 
party  does  not  profess  to  be  an  institution  which  in 
itself  commands  the  supreme  devotion  of  any  rational 
being.  It  asks  support,  always  and  only  as  an  in-^ 
strument  of  service  to  the  commonwealth.  Any  party 
which  should  assume  or  allow  itself  to  be  placed  in 

265 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

any  other  position  would  be  instantly  and  universally 
condemned.  The  party  member  who  should  be  ham- 
pered by  conflicting  emotions  of  fealty  to  country 
and  to  his  party  would  thereby  show  that  he  had 
failed  to  understand  their  true  relations ;  and  if  in 
such  an  emergency  he  should  follow  his  party  to  the 
detriment  of  his  country,  such  a  course  would  prove 
him  to  be  not  only  a  bad  citizen  but  an  enemy  to  his 
party. 

Nothing  tends  more  directly  to  destroy  the  party 
than  the  reputation  for  exalting  itself  above  the 
state.  If  a  party  supporter  finds  that  his  party  is 
becoming  committed  to  a  policy  which  he  believes 
will  work  serious  injury  to  the  state,  fidelity  to  his 
party  as  well  as  to  the  state  will  require  him  to  seek 
to  change  the  course  of  his  party.  If  this  can  best 
be  done  by  voting  against  his  party,  faithfulness  to 
true  party  interest  may  lead  him  to  so  act.  If  the 
party  nominates  a  candidate  whose  election  the  voter 
believes  will  be  a  source  of  weakness  or  injury  to  the 
state,  then  duty  to  his  party  as  well  as  duty  to  the 
state  should  impel  him  to  seek  to  defeat  such  can- 
didate. 

This  feature  of  party  loyalty  has  found  expression 
in  the  party  platforms  of  some  of  the  States,  in  which 
members  of  the  party  are  pledged  by  resolution  to 
the  defeat  of  measures  or  candidates  believed  to 
threaten  harm  to  the  state.^  On  no  other  principle 
can   parties   be    maintained    in   states    progressively 

'  1  See  in  the  Republican  platform  of  Missouri  for  1902,  a  clause 
binding  the  party  to  oppose  any  candidate  who  had  been  under 
the  influence  of  the  lobby. 

266 


PARTY   LOYALTY 


democratic.  Nothing  so  strengthens  the  better  ele- 
ment in  political  leadership  as  the  consciousness  of  a 
large  body  of  intelligent,  conscientious  party  sup- 
porters who  may  be  depended  upon  to  administer 
defeat  when  unworthy  men  or  measures  are  put  for- 
ward. On  the  other  hand  the  party  is  weakened  and 
demoralized  in  so  far  as  it  is  made  dependent  upon 
a  purchased  vote  or  an  unreasoning,  prejudiced  vote. 
Another  principle,  not  so  generally  recognized,  is 
essential  to  the  highest  usefulness  of  the  party  sys- 
tem. Members  of  one  political  party  are  likely  to 
take  pleasure  in  the  mistakes,  the  blunders,  and  the 
misfortunes  of  the  opposite  party.  Between  con- 
tending factions  in  a  despotic  state  where  public 
safety  may  require  the  destruction  of  one  of  the 
factions,  this  feeling  is  inevitable.  But  the  party 
system  in  a  democratic  state  should  bring  into  play 
a  different  sentiment  and  a  different  rule  of  action. 
It  is  an  injury  to  a  political  party  to  be  confronted 
only  by  a  party  that  is  weak,  or  inefficient,  or  im- 
moral. The  well-being  of  the  whole  country  requires 
that  both  political  parties  shall  be  as  wise,  as  intelli- 
gent, as  virtuous,  and  as  efficient  in  the  use  of  all 
right  means  of  service  to  the  state  as  is  possible.  The 
party  member  who  rejoices  at  the  blunders  or  the 
misfortunes  of  the  opposing  party  exhibits  thereby 
both  defective  patriotism  and  defective  apprehension 
of  true  party  interests.  Virtue  and  efficiency  in  one's 
own  party  are  promoted  by  virtue  and  efficiency  in 
the  opposition.  The  party  man  of  the  highest  type, 
therefore,  does  not  rejoice  over  the  mistakes  or  the 
calamities  of  his  opponents. 

267 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

A  distinction  should  be  recognized  between  the 
rank  and  file  of  party  supporters  and  the  limited 
class  of  party  leaders  and  officers.  These  classes  are 
of  course  not  sharply  divided,  but  some  of  the  differ- 
ent principles  controlling  their  actions  may  be  clearly 
distinguished. 

The  party  officer,  or  leader,  has  not  the  same  free- 
dom in  the  matter  of  voting  as  has  the  ordinary 
member.  The  committeeman  is,  in  a  sense,  a  public 
character.  He  has  ways  of  influencing  his  party  not 
open  to  the  common  voter.  He  is  in  many  ways  iden- 
tified with  the  organization  as  other  citizens  are  not. 
One  who  participates,  as  a  member  of  a  convention, 
in  the  making  of  a  nomination,  has  thereby  assumed 
special  obligations  in  respect  to  that  nomination.  It 
may  still  be  his  duty  to  refuse  to  support  the  nominee, 
but  such  a  course  is  justified  only  by  extraordinary 
reasons.  Any  sort  of  organization  which  transacts 
important  business  requires  of  its  officers  the  sur- 
render of  a  measure  of  private  judgment  or  prefer- 
ence. The  officers  do  not  act  for  themselves  alone, 
but  as  representing  others  also.  It  is  highly  impor- 
tant that  this  principle  should  be  clearly  understood, 
for  it  often  becomes  the  duty  of  the  party  offiicial  to 
go  with  his  party,  when,  if  he  were  acting  in  his 
private  capacity  as  an  unofficial  member  and  voter, 
loyalty  to  true  party  interests  would  impel  him  to 
an  opposite  course. 

A  different  attitude  of  mind  pertains  likewise  to 
the  party  leader  from  that  properly  characteristic  of 
the  follower  in  view  of  the  ill  fortune  of  the  opposi- 

268 


PARTY   LOYALTY 


tion.  It  is  the  business  of  leaders  to  expose  the  de- 
linquencies of  their  opponents.  One  who  excels  in 
this  form  of  public  service  is  almost  compelled  at 
least  to  appear  to  be  pleased  by  the  failures  of  politi- 
cal enemies.  The  English  Liberal  statesman,  Sir 
William  Harcourt,  after  listening  to  the  reading  of  a 
bill  introduced  by  the  Conservative  Government, 
which  he  was  convinced  insured  the  defeat  of  the  gov- 
ernment, remarked  in  a  tone  of  satisfaction  to  an  asso- 
ciate on  the  opposition  bench:  "The  Lord  hath 
delivered  them  into  our  hands ! ' '  Those  who  are 
contending  in  the  arena  hold  a  different  relation  to 
the  fray  from  that  of  the  spectators.  It  is  the  citizen 
voter  rather  than  the  party  leader  who  should  be 
expected  to  maintain  the  mental  attitude  which  im- 
pels him  to  look  with  favor  upon  every  indication  of 
strength  and  virtue  in  each  of  the  political  parties, 
and  to  experience  regret  at  every  indication  of  weak- 
ness in  either. 

If  the  party  system  should  survive  the  attainment 
of  a  truly  democratic  state,  the  office  and  the  func- 
tions of  the  ordinary  party  supporter  would  be  more 
and  more  exalted  and  the  function  of  the  technical 
party  officer  and  manager  would  become  less  promi- 
nent. The  rank  and  file  would  more  and  more  con- 
sciously gain  control. 

The  proportion  of  the  unofficial  to  the  official  class 
cannot  be  fixed  either  in  theory  or  in  practice.  In 
the  actual  party  organizations  in  the  different  States 
the  number  twenty-five  frequently  occurs.  This  is 
the  old  grand  jury  number.     One  officer  is  attended 

269 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

by  twenty-four  supporters. ^  It  is  the  business  of  the 
jury  to  voice  the  sentiment  of  the  commonwealth. 
If  the  organization  which  is  used  to  formulate  and 
express  the  general  will  bears  the  name  of  a  political 
party  in  the  democratic  state,  this  is  a  mere  matter 
of  convenience.  The  citizens  divide  and  organize 
themselves  for  purposes  of  discussion  and  investiga- 
tion for  the  common  good  that  they  may  the  more 
surely  determine  their  own  minds  and  that  every  part 
of  the  citizenship  may  the  more  surely  be  regarded. 
The  object  of  the  two  parties  is  to  give  emphasis  to 
the  substantial  unity  of  the  entire  citizenship  in  re- 
spect to  all  matters  of  common  agreement  and  to 
narrow  the  field  of  controversy  to  the  few  questions 
in  doubt  which  need  immediate  settlement. 

But  if  the  masses  of  the  people  are  not  sufficiently 
intelligent,  virtuous,  and  public-spirited,  and  must 
therefore  submit  to  some  form  of  despotic  rule,  there 
are  many  positive  arguments  in  favor  of  maintaining 
two  competing  organizations  capable  of  assuming 
control.  In  this  way  despotic  rulers  may  be  removed 
without  unnecessary  violence. 

1  See  Article  III.,  "Tammany  Rules,  New  York" ;  also  Article 
v.,  "Democratic  Rules,  South  Carolina,"  and  Rule  VII.,  "Re- 
publican Organization,  North  Carolina." 


270 


APPENDIX 

RULES  OF  THE   REPUBLICAN  PARTY 
IN   PENNSYLVANIA 

ADOPTED  IN  STATE  CONVENTION  HELD  AT 
HARRISBURG,  AUGUST  24,  1899 

M.  S.  Quay, 

Chairman. 
W.  R.  Andrews, 
Secretary. 

At  a  State  Convention  held  in  Harrisburg,  August  24,  1899, 
the  following  rules  were  adopted  for  the  guidance  of  the 
Kepublican  party  in  Pennsylvania: 

First.— That  the  Chairman  of  the  Eepublican  State  Com- 
mittee shall  be  elected  by  the  candidates  nominated  at  the 
State  Convention  and  the  permanent  chairman  thereof  as  soon 
as  practicable  after  the  adjournment  of  the  State  Conven- 
tion, and  shall  hold  his  office  until  his  successor  is  elected.  If 
there  should  be  a  vacancy  caused  by  death,  resignation  or  other- 
wise, after  the  meeting  of  the  Eepublican  State  Convention 
and  before  the  next  ensuing  general  election,  the  candidates 
nominated  at  the  said  convention  and  the  permanent  chairman 
aforesaid  shall  fill  such  vacancy,  but  should  a  vacancy  occur 
after  the  next  ensuing  general  election,  then  the  Republican 
State  Committee  shall  be  called  together  by  the  secretaries  of 
said  committee  and  the  majority  of  the  members  of  the  said 
committee  present  shall  select  a  chairman,  who  shall  serve  until 
his  successor  is  elected. 

Second.— That  the  State  Committee  shall  be  elected  by  the 

271 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

delegates  of  the  State  Convention  in  eaeli  Senatorial  district 
and  shall  hold  their  offices  until  their  successors  are  elected, 
each  of  said  districts  being  entitled  to  not  less  than  two 
members :  Provided,  however,  that  where  a  Senatorial  district 
consists  of  more  than  one  county,  each  county  shall  be  entitled 
to  one  member:  And  provided  further,  that  the  Chairman  of 
the  State  Committee  shall  have  power  to  appoint  twelve  mem- 
bers of  the  State  Committee  at  large,  who  shall  have  the  same 
voice  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  party  as  the 
members  selected  from  Senatorial  districts. 

Third.— That  the  time  for  holding  the  State  Convention  of 
the  Republican  party  shall  be  fixed  by  the  State  Committee  and 
at  least  sixty  days '  notice  thereof  given  of  the  date  for  holding 
the  said  convention. 

Fourth. — That  the  delegates  to  the  State  Convention  shall 
be  chosen  in  the  manner  in  which  candidates  for  the  General 
Assembly  are  nominated,  or  in  accordance  with  the  party  rules 
in  force  in  the  respective  counties  of  this  Commonwealth. 

Fifth. — That  representation  in  State  Conventions  shall  be 
based  on  the  vote  polled  at  the  Presidential  election  preceding, 
one  delegate  being  allotted  to  each  legislative  district  for 
every  two  thousand  Republican  votes  and  an  additional  dele- 
gate for  a  fraction  exceeding  one  thousand  votes,  each  district 
to  have  at  least  one  delegate. 

Sixth. — That  the  State  Committee  shall  hereafter  have 
power  to  place  in  nomination  candidates  to  fill  any  vacancies 
upon  the  State  ticket  caused  by  death,  resignation  or  other- 
wise, and  the  said  committee  shall  also  have  power  to  place  in 
nomination  a  candidate  to  fill  vacancy  caused  by  death  or 
resignation  of  any  officer  to  be  voted  for  by  the  electors  of  the 
State,  where  such  vacancy  shall  occur  after  the  regular  con- 
vention of  the  party  has  been  held,  and  the  vacancy  is  to  be 
filled  at  the  next  ensuing  general  election. 

Seventh. — In  all  Congressional,  Senatorial  or  Judicial  dis- 
tricts, w^here  the  delegates  or  conferees  in  said  Congressional, 
Senatorial  or  Judicial  districts  are  unable  to  agree  and  make 
a  nomination  55  days  prior  to  the  general  election,  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Republican  State  Committee  shall  appoint  one  rep- 

272 


APPENDIX 


resentative  Republican  from  each  county  of  the  district,  who 
shall  become  a  part  of  the  original  body  and  shall  have  the 
same  voice  in  the  deliberations  as  the  original  members.  In 
event  the  convention  or  conference  is  then  unable  to  agree 
within  five  days  after  the  representative  Republicans  from 
each  county  in  the  district  are  appointed  as  aforesaid,  the 
Chairman  of  the  Republican  State  Committee  shall  select  a 
representative  Republican  in  the  district,  who  shall  act  as  um- 
pire or  referee  in  making  a  nomination. 


18  273 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC  PARTY 
IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA 

AS  ADOPTED  IN  THE  STATE  CONVENTION  AT 
COLUMBIA,  S.  C,  MAY  21,  1902 

Article  I.  There  shall  be  one  or  more  Democratic  clubs 
organized  in  each  township  or  ward,  each  of  which  clubs  shall 

have    a   distinct    title,    * '  The   Democratic    Club, ' '    and 

shall  elect  a  president  and  one  or  more  vice-presidents,  a  re- 
cording and  a  corresponding  secretary  and  a  treasurer,  and 
shall  have  the  following  working  committees,  of  not  less  than 
three  members  each,  viz. :  A  committee  on  registration,  an 
executive  committee,  and  such  other  committees  as  to  each  club 
may  seem  expedient. 

Article  II.  The  meetings  of  the  club  shall  be  frequent  after 
the  opening  of  the  canvass,  and  some  member  of  the  club  or 
invited  speaker  deliver  an  address  at  each  meeting,  if  practi- 
cable. The  clubs  shall  meet  on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  April 
and  the  county  convention  on  the  first  Monday  in  May,  re- 
spectively, of  each  election  year:  Provided,  That  the  County 
Executive  Committee  may  name  any  other  day  within  the  same 
week  for  such  club  meeting  by  giving  at  least  two  weeks' 
notice  by  advertisement  in  county  papers:  And  Provided, 
Further,  That  in  case  any  existing  club  shall  fail  to  reor- 
ganize on  the  day  fixed  for  reorganization,  the  County  Execu- 
tive Committee  may  fix  a  day  for  such  club  to  meet  for  reor- 
ganization by  giving  two  weeks '  notice  as  provided  in  this 
article.  Each  county  shall  be  entitled  to  as  many  delegates  in 
the  State  Convention  as  double  the  number  of  its  members  in 
the  General  Assembly. 

274 


APPENDIX 


Article  III.  The  president,  or  five  members,  shall  have  the 
power  to  call  an  extra  meeting  of  the  club,  a,ncl  at  such  extra 
meeting,  one-fourth  of  the  members  shall  constitute  a  quorum 
for  the  transaction  of  business. 

Article  IV.  The  clubs  in  each  county  shall  be  held  to- 
gether, and  operate  under  the  control  of  a  County  Executive 
Committee,  which  shall  consist  of  one  member  from  each  club, 
to  be  elected  by  the  respective  clubs.  The  Executive  Com- 
mittee when  elected,  shall  appoint  its  own  officers  (except  the 
chairman  who  shall  be  elected  by  the  County  Convention),  who 
shall  not  necessarily  be  members  of  said  committee,  but  a 
vacancy  in  the  membership  of  the  committee  shall  be  filled  by 
the  club,  through  the  loss  of  whose  member  by  death,  resigna- 
tion or  otherwise  the  vacancy  occurs :  Provided,  That  in  case  the 
oflice  of  Chairman  of  the  County  Executive  Committee  shall 
become  vacant  by  death,  resignation,  or  otherwise,  the  com- 
mittee shall  have  the  power  to  fill  the  vacancy  by  electing  a 
chairman  to  serve  until  the  organization  of  the  next  regular 
County  Convention:  And  Provided,  Further,  That  any  officer  so 
elected  who  is  not  a  member  of  the  committee  shall  not  be 
entitled  to  a  vote  on  any  question  except  the  chairman,  and 
then  only  in  case  of  a  tie  vote.  The  tenure  of  office  of  the 
executive  committee  shall  be  until  the  first  Monday  in  May  of 
each  election  year  at  which  time  the  County  Convention  shall 
be  called  together  to  reorganize  the  party.  Every  presidential 
election  year  County  Conventions  shall  be  called  by  the  County 
Executive  Committee  to  meet  on  the  first  Monday  in  May, 
which  shall  elect  delegates  to  a  State  Convention  called  for 
the  purpose  of  electing  delegates  to  the  National  Democratic 
Convention  and  to  elect  the  member  of  the  National  Demo- 
cratic Executive  Committee  from  this  State.  The  State  Con- 
vention shall  be  called  by  the  State  Executive  Committee  to 
meet  every  presidential  election  year  on  the  third  Wednesday  in 
May,  and  every  State  election  year,  County  and  State  Conven- 
tions shall  meet  on  the  first  Monday  in  May  and  the  third 
Wednesday  in  May  respectively. 

Article  V.  County  Democratic  Conventions  shall  be  com- 
posed of  delegates  elected  by  the  several  clubs,  one  delegate 

275 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

for  every  twenty-five  members,  and  one  delegate  for  a  ma- 
jority fraction  thereof,  with  the  right  to  each  County  Conven- 
tion to  enlarge  or  diminish  the  representation  according  to 
circumstances.  The  County  Conventions  shall  be  called  to- 
gether by  the  chairman  of  the  respective  Executive  Committees 
under  such  rule,  not  inconsistent  with  the  Constitution  nor  with 
the  rules  adopted  by  the  State  Democratic  Executive  Com- 
mittee, as  each  county  may  adopt,  and  when  assembled  shall 
be  called  to  order  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, and  the  Convention  shall  proceed  to  nominate  and  elect 
from  among  its  members  a  president,  one  or  more  vice-presi- 
dents, a  secretary  and  a  treasurer.  Any  County  Convention 
may  permit  or  recognize  the  formation  of  a  new  club  or  clubs 
by  a  majority  of  its  members.  In  all  cities  with  a  population 
of  5,000  and  over  there  may  be  two  clubs  in  each  ward;  they 
shall  be  organized  in  obedience  to  this  Constitution,  as  are  the 
clubs  elsewhere  in  this  State,  and  in  organizing  said  clubs, 
they  shall  have  representation  in  the  County  Conventions  re- 
spectively as  said  Convention  shall  declare  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  this  Constitution. 

Article  VI.  For  the  purpose  of  nominating  candidates  for 
Governor,  Lieutenant  Governor,  and  other  State  officers,  in- 
cluding Solicitors  in  the  respective  Circuits,  and  Congressmen 
in  their  respective  districts,  and  United  States  Senators,  and 
all  county  officers,  except  Magistrates  and  Masters,  and  Super- 
visors of  Eegistration,  a  direct  primary  election  shall  be  held 
on  the  last  Tuesday  in  August  of  each  election  year,  and  a 
second  and  third  primary  each  two  weeks  successively  there- 
after if  necessary:  Provided,  That  the  County  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  any  county  shall  be  at  liberty  to  order  a  primary 
election  for  Magistrates  and  Masters,  but  not  for  members  of 
the  County  Board  of  Control  of  the  Dispensaries,  nor  for 
County  Dispensers.  At  this  election  only  Democratic  white 
voters  who  have  been  residents  of  the  State  twelve  months  and 
the  county  sixty  days  preceding  the  next  general  election,  and 
such  negroes  as  voted  the  Democratic  ticket  in  1876, 
and  as  have  voted  the  Democratic  ticket  continuously  since, 
to  be  shown  by  the  certificate  of  ten  white  Democratic  voters, 

276 


APPENDIX 


who  will  pledge  themselves  to  support  the  nominee  of  such 
elections,  may  vote:  Provided,  That  no  person  shall  be  allowed 
to  vote  except  his  name  be  enrolled  on  the  particular  club  list 
at  which  he  offers  to  vote,  at  least  five  days  before  the  first 
election.  Ea^h  club  shall  have  a  separate  polling  place  for 
primary  elections. 

The  club  rolls  of  the  party  shall  constitute  the  registry  list 
and  shall  be  open  to  inspection  by  any  member  of  the  party, 
and  the  election  under  this  clause  shall  be  held  and  regulated 
under  the  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State,  ap- 
proved December  22,  1888,  and  any  subsequent  Acts  of  the 
Legislature  of  this  State.  The  State  Executive  Committee 
shall  meet  on  the  Friday  after  each  primary,  or  such  other 
time  as  may  be  designated  by  the  chairman  to  canvass  the 
vote  and  declare  the  result  as  to  all  State  officers,  Congress- 
men and  United  States  Senators.  All  contests  for  all  nomi- 
nations at  primary  elections  shall  be  heard  first  by  the  County 
Executive  Committee  of  the  County  in  which  such  irregulari- 
ties may  have  occurred,  and  may  be  reviewed  by  the  State 
Executive  Committee,  whose  action  shall  be  final:  Provided, 
That  no  vote  shall  be  counted  for  any  candidate  who  does 
not  file  with  the  Chairman  of  the  State  Executive  Committee, 
or  with  the  respective  Chairman  of  the  County  Executive  Com- 
mittees, a  pledge  in  writing  that  he  will  abide  the  result  of 
such  primary  and  support  the  nominees  thereof,  and  that  he 
is  not,  nor  will  he  become,  the  candidate  of  any  faction,  either 
privately  or  publicly  suggested,  other  than  the  regular  Demo- 
cratic nomination,  and  each  candidate  for  the  United  States 
Senate  and  for  the  United  States  House  of  Kepresentatives 
shall  file  an  additional  pledge  that  he  will  support  the  political 
principles  and  policies  of  the  party  during  the  term  of  office 
for  which  he  may  be  elected,  and  work  in  accord  with  his 
Democratic  associates  in  Congress  on  all  party  questions: 
Provided,  Further,  That  no  candidate  shall  be  declared  nom- 
inated unless  he  receives  a  majority  of  the  votes  cast  for  the 
office  for  which  he  is  a  candidate:  Provided,  That  the  pledge 
of  such  candidate  shall  be  filed  on  or  before  12  o  'clock  meridian 
of  the  day  preceding  the  day  fixed  by  the  County  Executive 

277 


PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

Committee  or  the  State  Executive  Committee  for  the  first  cam- 
paign meeting  of  the  County  or  State  respectively. 

Article  VII.  The  officers  of  the  State  Convention  shall  be 
a  president,  vice-president  from  each  Congressional  District, 
two  secretaries  and  a  treasurer. 

Article  VIII.  The  State  Executive  Committee  shall  be 
composed  of  one  member  from  each  county,  to  be  elected  by 
the  County  Conventions  on  the  first  Monday  in  May  of  each 
election  year.  When  elected,  said  executive  committee  shall 
choose  its  own  officers,  not  necessarily  members  thereof,  prior 
to  said  elections:  Provided,  That  any  officer  so  elected  who  is 
not  a  member  of  the  committee  shall  not  be  entitled  to  a  vote 
on  any  question,  except  the  chairman,  and  then  only  in  case  of 
a  tie  vote.  The  State  Executive  Committee  shall  meet  at  the 
call  of  the  chairman  or  any  five  members,  and  at  such  time 
and  place  as  he  or  they  may  appoint.  The  member  of  the 
National  Democratic  Executive  Committee  from  South  Caro- 
lina shall  be  elected  by  the  May  State  Convention  in  1896,  and 
every  four  years  thereafter,  and  when  elected  shall  be  ex-officio 
a  member  of  the  State  Executive  Committee.  Vacancies  on 
said  Executive  Committee  by  death,  resignation  or  otherwise, 
shall  be  filled  by  the  respective  County  Executive  Committees. 
The  State  Executive  Committee  is  charged  with  the  execution 
and  direction  of  the  policy  of  the  party  in  this  State,  subject 
to  this  Constitution,  the  principles  declared  in  the  platform 
of  principles,  and  such  instruction,  by  resolution  or  otherwise, 
as  a  State  Convention  may  from  time  to  time  adopt,  not  in- 
consistent with  this  Constitution,  and  shall  continue  in  office 
for  two  years  from  time  of  election  until  their  successors  have 
been  elected.  The  committee  shall  nominate  presidential 
electors,  and  if  any  vacancy  occur  in  the  State  ticket  of  electors 
or  of  the  member  of  the  National  Executive  Committee,  by 
death,  resignation  or  other  cause,  the  committee  shall  have  the 
power  to  fill  the  vacancy;  all  by  a  majority  of  the  whole  com- 
mittee. 

Article  IX.  The  vote  in  the  respective  counties  for  all  of 
the  State  officers.  Congressmen  and  United  States  Senator  shall 
be    transmitted    by    the    Chairman    of    the    respective    County 

278 


APPENDIX 


Executive  Committees  to  the  Chairman  of  the  State  Executive 
Committee  as  early  as  practicable  after  each  primary,  who 
shall  proceed  to  canvass  the  vote  and  declare  the  result. 

Article  X.  When  the  State  Convention  assembles  it  shall 
be  called  to  order  by  the  Chairman  of  the  State  Executive 
Committee.  A  temporary  chairman  shall  be  nominated  and 
elected  by  the  Convention,  and  after  its  organization  the  Con- 
vention shall  proceed  immediately  to  the  election  of  per- 
manent officers  and  to  the  transaction  of  business.  When  the 
business  has  concluded  it  shall  adjourn  sine  die. 

Article  XI.  Before  the  election  in  1902,  and  each  election 
thereafter  except  as  herein  provided,  the  State  Democratic 
Executive  Committee  shall  appoint  and  arrange  for  two  cam- 
paign meetings  to  be  held  in  each  county,  not  less  than  two 
weeks  apart,  one  of  which  meetings  shall  be  addressed  only  by 
candidates  for  State  offices,  and  the  other  only  by  candidates 
for  United  States  Senator,  United  States  House  of  Eepresenta- 
tives  and  Circuit  Solicitors.  In  addition  to  such  campaign 
meetings  the  County  Chairman  of  the  respective  Congressional 
Districts  and  Judicial  Circuits  shall,  when  there  is  more  than 
one  candidate  for  either  of  said  offices,  arrange  for  and  ap- 
point separate  campaign  meetings  for  their  respective  districts 
or  judicial  circuits,  the  time  and  place  of  such  meetings  to  be 
published  in  each  county,  at  which  only  the  candidates  for 
said  offices  shall  be  invited  to  address  the  people.  Provided, 
That  in  any  year  in  which  no  candidate  for  United  States 
Senator  is  to  be  voted  for,  the  State  Executive  Committee  may 
dispense  with  the  second  campaign  meeting  it  is  authorized  to 
appoint  under  this  article. 

Article  XII.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  County  Executive 
Committee  to  appoint  meetings  in  their  respective  counties  to 
be  addressed  by  the  candidates  for  the  General  Assembly  and 
for  the  different  county  offices,  all  of  whom  except  Magistrates, 
Masters  and  Supervisors  of  Kegistration  shall  be  elected  by 
primaries  on  the  last  Tuesday  in  August  of  each  election  year 
under  the  same  rules  and  regulations  hereinbefore  provided. 

Article  XIII.  Each  county  delegation  to  a  State  Conven- 
tion shall  have  power  to  fill  any  vacancy  therein. 

279 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

Article  XIV.  This  Constitution  may  be  amended  or  altered 
at  the  regular  May  Convention  of  the  State  or  at  any  conven- 
tion called  specifically  for  that  purpose,  the  call  for  which 
shall  specify  the  changes  to  be  made. 

Article  XV.  Any  county  failing  or  refusing  to  organize 
under  the  provisions  of  this  Constitution  shall  not  have  repre- 
sentation in  the  State  Democratic  Convention. 

James  T.  Parks,  Wilie  Jones, 

Secretary.  Chair.  State  Bern.  Ex.  Com. 


RULES 

FOR    GOVERNING    THE    MEMBERSHIP    OF    DEMOCRATIC    CLUBS,    THE 

QUALIFICATION      OF      VOTERS,      AND      THE      CONDUCT      OF 

PRIMARY       ELECTIONS      OF      THE       DEMOCRATIC 

PARTY     OF     SOUTH     CAROLINA 

ADOPTED  MAY  21,  1902 

The  following  rules  shall  govern  the  membership  of  the 
different  subordinate  Democratic  Clubs  of  this  State,  the  quali- 
fication of  voters  at  the  primary  elections  held  by  the  party, 
the  conduct  of  the  primary  election  to  be  held  on  the  last  Tues- 
day (the  26th  day)  of  August,  A.  D.,  1902,  and  the  second 
primary  held  two  weeks  later,  if  one  be  necessary. 

EuLE  1.  The  qualification  for  membership  in  any  subordi- 
nate club  of  the  Democratic  Party  of  this  State,  or  for  voting 
at  a  Democratic  primary,  shall  be  as  follows,  viz.:  The  appli- 
cant for  membership,  or  voter,  shall  be  twenty-one  years  of 
age,  or  shall  become  so  before  the  succeeding  general  election, 
and  be  a  white  Democrat,  or  a  negro  who  voted  for  General 
Hampton  in  1876,  and  who  has  voted  the  Democratic  tictet  con- 
tinuously since.  Provided,  that  no  white  man  shall  be  ex- 
cluded from  participation  in  the  Democratic  primary  who 
shall  take  the  pledge  required  by  the  rules  of  the  Democratic 
Party. 

The  managers  at  each  box  at  the  primary  election  shall  re- 

280 


APPENDIX 


quire  everj  voter  in  a  Democratic  primary  election  to  pledge 
himself  to  abide  the  result  of  the  primary,  and  to  support  the 
nominees  of  the  party,  and  to  take  the  following  oath  and 
pledge,  viz.:  "  1  do  solemnly  swear  that  I  am  duly  qualified 
to  vote  at  this  election  according  to  the  rules  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Party,  and  that  I  have  not  voted  before  at  this  election, 
and  pledge  myself  to  support  the  nominees  of  this  primary. ' ' 

Rule  2.  Every  negro  applying  for  a  membership  in  a  Demo- 
cratic Club,  or  offering  to  vote  in  a  Democratic  primary  elec- 
tion, must  produce  a  written  statement  of  ten  reputable  white 
men  who  shall  swear  that  they  know  of  their  own  knowledge 
that  the  applicant  or  voter  voted  for  General  Hampton  in 
1876,  and  has  voted  the  Democratic  ticket  continuously  since. 
The  said  statement  shall  be  placed  in  the  ballot  box  by  the 
managers,  and  returned  with  the  poll  lists  to  the  County  Chair- 
man. The  managers  of  election  shall  keep  a  separate  list  of 
the  names  of  all  negro  voters,  and  return  it  with  the  poll  list 
to  the  County  Chairman. 

No  person  shall  be  permitted  to  vote  unless  he  has  been  en- 
rolled on  a  club  list  at  least  five  days  before  the  said  primary 
election. 

The  club  lists  shall  be  inspected  by  and  certified  to  by  the 
president  and  secretary  and  turned  over  to  the  managers  to  be 
used  as  the  registry  list. 

Rule  3.  Each  County  Executive  Committee  of  the  Demo- 
cratic Party  in  this  State  shall  meet  on  or  before  the  first  Mon- 
day in  August  of  each  election  year,  and  shall  appoint  three 
managers  for  each  primary  election  precinct  in  their  respective 
Counties,  who  shall  hold  the  primary  electio"  provided  for 
under  the  Democratic  Constitution,  in  accordance  with  the 
Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State  regulating  primary 
elections,  the  Constitution  of  the  Democratic  Party  of  this 
State,  and  the  rules  herein  set  forth.  The  names  of  such 
managers  may  be  published  by  the  Chairman  of  each  County 
Executive  Committee  in  one  or  more  County  papers  at  least 
two  weeks  before  the  election. 

Rule  4.  Each  voter  in  said  primary  shall  vote  two  ballots, 
on  which  shall  be  printed  the  name  or  names  of  the  candidates 

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PARTY    ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

voted  for  by  him  for  each  of  the  offices  to  be  filled,  together 
with  the  name  of  the  office.  The  tickets  to  be  voted  shall  be 
furnished  by  the  State  and  County  Executive  Committees  re- 
spectively, and  shall  contain  the  names  of  all  candidates  for 
the  representative  offices  and  no  other  tickets  shall  be  used. 
The  tickets  to  be  voted  shall  be  in  the  following  forms,  one  for 

United  States  Senator. 

Governor. 

Lieutenant  Governor. 

Secretary  of  State. 

Comptroller  General. 

State  Treasurer. 

Adjutant  and  Inspector  General. 

State   Superintendent   of   Education. 

Attorney  General. 

Railroad  Commissioner. 
The  other  with  spaces  to  suit  the  different  Counties. 

For  Congress  District. 

For  Solicitor Judicial  Circuit. 

State  Senator. 

House  of  Representatives. 

Sheriff. 

Judge  of  Probate. 

Clerk  of  Court. 

County  Supervisor. 

Coroner. 

County  Superintendent  of  Education. 

Treasurer. 

Auditor. 

Magistrate. 

Master. 

County  Commissioners. 
No  vote  for  House  of  Representatives  shall  be  counted  un- 
less  it  contains   as  many  names  as  the  county  is  entitled  to 
representatives. 

Rule  5.  The  managers  of  election  shall  open  the  polls  at 
8  o'clock  A.  M.  and  shall  close  them  at  4  o'clock  P.  M.  After 
tabulating   the   result,    the    managers   shall    certify    the    same 

282 


APPENDIX 


and  forward  the  ballot-box,  poll  list  and  all  other  papers  re- 
lating to  such  election  by  one  of  their  number  of  Executive 
Committeemen,  to  the  Chairman  of  the  respective  Democratic 
County  Executive  Committees  within  forty-eight  hours  after 
the  close  of  the  polls. 

EuLE  6.  The  County  Democratic  Executive  Committees  shall 
assemble  at  their  respective  Court  Houses  on  the  morning  of 
the  second  day  after  the  election,  on  or  before  12  o  'clock  M., 
to  tabulate  the  returns  and  declare  the  result  of  the  primary 
so  far  as  the  same  relates  to  members  of  the  General  Assembly 
and  County  Officers,  and  shall  forward  immediately  to  the 
Chairman  of  the  State  Executive  Committee  at  Columbia,  S.  C, 
the  result  of  the  election  in  their  respective  Counties  for  U.  S. 
Senator,  State  Officers,  Congressmen  and  Solicitors. 

KuLE  7.  The  protests  and  contests  for  County  Officers  shall 
be  filed  within  five  days  after  the  election  with  the  Chairman 
of  the  County  Executive  Committee,  and  said  Executive  Com- 
mittee shall  hear  and  determine  the  same.  The  State  Executive 
Committee  shall  hear  and  decide  protests  and  contests  as  to 
United  States  Senator,  State  Officers,  Congressmen  and  So- 
licitors, and  ten  days  shall  be  allowed  for  filing  the  same. 

EuLE  8.  Candidates  for  the  General  Assembly  and  for 
County  Offices  shall  file  with  the  Chairman  of  the  County 
Executive  Committee  a  pledge  in  writing,  to  abide  the  result 
of  the  primary  and  support  the  nominees  thereof.  Candidates 
for  other  offices  shall  file  such  pledge  with  the  Chairman  of 
the  State  Executive  Committee.  Provided,  That  the  pledge  of 
such  candidate  shall  be  filed  on  or  before  12  o'clock  meridian, 
of  the  day  preceding  the  day  fixed  by  the  County  Executive 
Committee  or  the  State  Executive  Committee  for  the  first  cam- 
paign meeting  of  the  County  or  State  respectively.  No  vote 
for  any  candidate  who  has  not  paid  his  assessment  nor  com- 
plied with  this  rule  shall  be  counted. 

The  following  is  the  form  of  the  oath:  ^'As  a  candidate  for 

office    of   in    the    Democratic   primary    election,    to    be 

held  on  the  last  Tuesday  in  August,  1902,  I  hereby  pledge 
myself  to  abide  the  result  of  such  primary  and  support  the 
nominees  thereof,  and  that  I  am  not,  nor  will  I  become,  the 

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PARTY   ORGANIZATION  AND  MACHINERY 

candidate  of  any  faction,  either  privately  or  publicly  suggested, 
other  than  the  regular  Democratic  nomination."  If  the  can- 
didate is  running  for  the  United  States  Senate  or  for  the 
United  States  House  of  Representatives  this  additional  pledge 
shall  be  required:  "I  will  support  the  political  principles  and 
policies  of  the  Democratic  Party  during  the  term  of  ofl&ce  for 
which  I  may  be  elected,  and  work  in  accord  with  my  Demo- 
cratic associates  in  Congress  on  all  party  questions."  *'Thi3 
the  day  of  ,  1902. ' ' 

Rule  9.  In  the  primary  elections  herein  provided  for,  a 
majority  of  the  votes  cast  shall  be  necessary  to  nominate  can- 
didates. A  second  primary,  when  necessary,  shall  be  held  two 
weeks  after  the  first,  as  provided  for  under  the  Constitution  of 
the  party,  and  shall  be  subject  to  the  rules  governing  the  first 
primary.  At  said  second  primary  the  two  highest  candidates 
alone  shall  run  for  any  one  office,  but  if  there  are  two  or 
more  vacancies  for  any  particular  office,  then  double  the 
number  of  candidates  shall  run  for  the  vacancies  to  be  filled. 
For  instance,  in  a  race  for  Sheriff  the  two  highest  shall  run. 

Rule  10.  In  the  event  of  a  tie  between  two  candidates  in 
the  second  primary,  the  County  chairman,  if  it  is  a  County 
Office,  and  the  State  Chairman,  if  it  is  for  U.  S.  Senator,  State 
Officers,  Congressmen,  or  Solicitors,  shall  order  the  third  pri- 
mary. The  question  of  a  majority  vote  shall  be  determined 
by  the  number  of  votes  cast  for  any  particular  office,  and  not 
by  the  whole  number  of  votes  cast  in  the  primary. 

Rule  11.  Each  County  Executive  Committee  shall  furnish 
the  managers  at  each  precinct  two  ballot  boxes,  one  for  State 
Officers,  and  the  other  for  Congressmen,  Solicitor  and  County 
Officers. 

WiLiE  Jones, 
Chair.  State  Bern.  Ex.  Com. 

J.  T.  Parks, 

Secretary, 


284 


RULES  AND  REGULATIONS  OF  THE  DEMO- 
CRATIC-REPUBLICAN ORGANIZATION 
OF  THE  COUNTY  OF  NEW 
YORK,  1904 

The  Democratic-Eepublican  General  Committee  of  the  County 
of  New  York  elected  and  established  by  the  Democratic  voters 
of  the  County  of  New  York,  do  hereby  adopt  the  Kules  and 
Eegulations  following: 

ASTICLE  I.— Organization 

There  shall  be  an  Assembly  District  Association  in  each 
Assembly  District,  composed  of  all  the  voters  who  are  en- 
rolled as  members  of  the  Democratic  Party  in  that  District. 

There  shall  be  the  following  representative  bodies: 

1.  A  County  General  Committee,  to  be  known  as  the  Demo- 
cratic-Eepublican General  Committee  of  the  County  of  New 
York. 

2.  Such  Conventions  as  are  prescribed  by  the  Primary  Elec- 
tion Law,  or  as  may  be  called  from  time  to  time  by  the  Demo- 
cratic-Eepublican County  General  Committee. 

ABTICLE  n.— Bepresentation 

The  unit  of  representation  to  be  observed  in  the  election  of 
delegates  to  the  County  General  Committee,  and  to  the  several 
nominating  Conventions,  shall  be  the  Assembly  District  and  the 
Annexed  District. 

Where  a  portion  of  an  Assembly  District  is  within  the  po- 
litical   division    for    which    the    Committee    or    Convention    is 

285 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND    MACHINERY 

elected,  such  portion  shall  be  deemed  to  be  an  Assembly  Dis- 
trict for  the  purpose  of  representation,  and  the  rules  and 
regulations  applying  to  an  Assembly  District  shall  in  all  things 
apply  to  such  portion  of  an  Assembly  District. 

ARTICLE  III.— County  Committee 

The  Democratic  County  Committee  shall  be  the  central  or- 
ganization and  the  General  Committee  of  the  Democratic  Party 
in  the  County  of  New  York,  and  shall  have  the  care  of  the  in- 
terests and  be  charged  with  the  administration  of  the  affairs 
of  the  party  in  the  County,  and  with  ^he  promotion  of  mea- 
sures for  the  harmony,  efficiency  and  success  of  the  party. 

The  basis  or  ratio  of  apportionment  to  be  observed  in  the 
election  of  delegates  to  the  County  General  Committee,  shall  be 
one  delegate  for  every  twenty-five  votes,  or  each  major  part 
thereof,  cast  in  each  Assembly  District  and  the  Annexed  Dis- 
trict at  the  General  Election  in  1902  for  the  Democratic  candi- 
date for  Governor. 

Vacancies  in  the  membership  of  the  County  Committee  shall 
be  filled  for  the  unexpired  term  by  the  remaining  members  of 
the  delegation  in  which  the  vacancy  occurs  at  a  meeting  of  the 
delegation  to  be  called  by  the  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
County  Committee,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  meetings  of  the 
County  Committee  are  called. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  County  Committee  in  every  year 
the  Committee  shall  be  called  to  order  by  the  President  of  the 
preceding  year,  who  shall  act  until  a  temporary  chairman  is 
chosen  upon  a  call  of  the  roll.  In  the  absence  of  the  President, 
the  First  or  Second  Vice-President,  the  Recording  or  Corre- 
sponding Secretary  or  Treasurer  of  the  preceding  year  shall 
act  in  the  order  named.  In  the  event  of  a  contest  a  Committee 
on  Contested  Seats  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President. 

Members  whose  names  are  on  the  official  roll  shall  be  deemed 
prima  facie  entitled  to  their  seats  and  shall  have  the  right  to 
vote  on  all  questions  except  that  of  their  right  to  their  own 
seats. 

All  reports  upon  contested   seats   shall  be  in  writing,   and 

286 


APPENDIX 


shall  state  the  facts  as  found  by  the  Coiiunittee,  together  with 
the  action  recommended  and  the  reasons  therefor. 

The  right  to  seats  from  each  Assembly  District  shall,  in 
case  of  contests,  be  decided  separately  from  the  right  to  seats 
from  every  other  district. 


AETICLE  IV.— Officers 

The  officers  of  the  County  Committee  shall  be  a  President, 
a  First  Vice-President,  a  Second  Vice-President,  a  District 
Vice-President  from  each  Assembly  District  and  the  Annexed 
District,  a  Kecording  Secretary,  a  Corresponding  Secretary,  a 
District  Secretary  from  each  Assembly  District  and  the  An- 
nexed District,  three  General  Secretaries,  a  Eeading  Secretary 
(to  be  appointed  by  the  President),  a  Treasurer  and  a  Ser- 
geant-at-Arms,  all  of  whom  shall  hold  office  until  a  new  com- 
mittee is  elected  and  organized.  In  case  the  Eeading  Secre- 
tary appointed  as  herein  provided  is  not  a  duly  elected  member 
of  the  General  Committee  he  shall  not  be  entitled  to  debate  or 
vote  on  any  question. 

The  President  shall  be  Chairman  of  the  County  Committee 
and  it  shall  be  his  duty  to  preside  at  all  meetings  of  that  body, 
and  he  shall  be  ex-ofjicio  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

He  shall  appoint  all  Standing  and  Special  Committees  unless 
other  provision  is  made,  and  shall  discharge  all  the  duties 
imposed  on  him  by  the  Primary  Election  Law. 

The  Vice-Presidents  shall  in  their  order  preside  at  meetings 
of  the  Committee  in  the  absence  of  the  President. 

The  Recording  Secretary  shall  keep  full  and  accurate  min- 
utes of  all  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Committee,  and  shall 
prepare  a  roll  of  the  members  and  their  respective  places  of 
address.  The  Corresponding  Secretary  shall  notify  the  mem- 
bers through  the  mails  of  the  time  and  place  of  all  meetings. 

The  Treasurer  shall  receive  and  hold  in  trust  all  funds  of  the 
committee.  He  shall  be  ex-offlcio  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Committee  and  report  to  the  Committee  w'hen  required  by  said 
Committee  so  to  do. 

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PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 


ARTICLE  v.— Committees 

There  shall  be  the  following  Standing  Committees  of  the 
County  Committee. 

Executive  Committee 

An  Executive  Committee  to  consist  of  one  member,  as  here- 
inafter qualified,  from  each  Assembly  District  and  one  from 
the  Annexed  District,  "\\ith  the  exception  of  the  Thirty-fourth 
District,  in  which  District  there  shall  be  one  member  with  one- 
half  a  vote  for  that  portion  of  the  District  lying  south  of  the 
Harlem  River,  and  one  member  with  one-half  a  vote  for  that 
portion  of  the  District  lying  north  of  the  Harlem  River,  with 
the  Chairman  and  Treasurer  of  the  General  Committee,  the 
Chairman  and  Vice-Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Printing, 
the  Chairman  and  Vice-Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions and  Correspondence,  the  Chairman  and  Vice-Chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Public  Meetings,  and  the  Chairman  and  Vice- 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Law  as  ex-officio  members. 

No  ex-o^cio  member  of  the  Executive  Committee  other  than 
the  Chairman  and  Treasurer  of  the  General  Committee  shall 
be  entitled  to  a  vote. 

The  member  from  each  Assembly  District  and  from  the  An- 
nexed District  and  the  members  from  the  Thirty-fourth  As- 
sembly District  shall  be  chosen  in  the  following  manner:  At 
the  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  County  Committee  from 
each  Assembly  District  and  the  Annexed  District,  held  in  each 
year  for  the  purpose  of  organization,  there  shall  be  selected  by 
a  majority  vote  of  those  elected  to  such  committee  or  division 
of  such  committee  where  authorized,  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Committee,  which  selection  shall  be  submitted  at  the  last 
meeting  of  the  existing  Executive  Committee  held  in  such 
year,  and  from  the  list  of  such  selections  there  shall  be  re- 
ported to  the  first  meeting  of  the  County  Committee  in  each 
year  the  names  on  such  list  approved  by  such  Executive  Com- 
mittee, and  upon  approval  thereof  by  the  County  Committee  the 

288 


APPENDIX 


same  shall,  with  the  ex-officio  members,  constitute  the  Executive 
Committee  for  the  ensuing  year. 

In  the  event  of  the  members  from  any  District  being  unable 
to  agree  upon  a  member  for  Executive  Committee  or  in  the 
event  of  any  name  submitted  being  rejected,  the  Executive 
Committee,  as  approved  by  the  County  Committee,  may  appoint 
one  of  the  members  of  the  County  Committee  from  such  Dis- 
trict to  act  as  member  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

The  Executive  Committee  shall  meet  for  organization  on  the 
call  of  the  President  of  the  General  Committee  and  elect  from 
their  number  a  Chairman,  Vice-Chairman  and  two  Secretaries. 
The  Chairman  shall  appoint  a  Secretary  to  the  Committee,  who 
shall  be  subject  to  its  direction  but  need  not  be  a  member 
thereof.  Subsequent  meetings  of  the  Executive  Committee 
shall  be  held  as  determined  by  the  Committee  or  on  call  of  its 
Chairman.  The  action  of  the  Committee  shall  in  no  case  be 
final,  but  it  shall  report  its  conclusions  and  recommendations 
to  the  County  Committee  from  time  to  time. 

Committee  on  Law 

A  Committee  on  Law  to  consist  of  39  members,  whose  duty 
it  shall  be  to  advise  the  County  Committee  or  any  Committee 
or  officer  thereof,  on  any  question  of  law  arising  upon  the  dis- 
charge of  its  or  his  duty,  to  consider  and  report  in  any  matters 
of  a  legal  nature  that  may  be  referred  to  it  by  the  County  or 
Executive  Committee,  and  to  investigate  all  reports  of  viola- 
tion of  duty  by  election  or  other  officers. 

Committee  on  Printing 

A  Committee  on  Printing  to  consist  of  7  members,  whose 
duty  it  shall  be  to  take  charge  of  all  printing  ordered  by  the 
County  or  Executive  Committee. 

Committee  on  Besolutions  and  Correspondence 

A  Committee  on  Kesolutions  and  Correspondence  to  consist 
of  17  members,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  prepare  such  resolu- 

19  289 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION   AND   MACHINERY 

tions  as  may  be  directed  by  the  General  or  Executive  Com- 
mittee as  well  as  consider  and  report  on  such  resolutions  as 
may  be  referred  to  it  by  either  of  the  said  Committees.  In 
addition  thereto  the  Committee  shall  conduct  such  corre- 
spondence as  may  be  directed  by  the  General  or  Executive 
Committee. 

Committee  on  Election  Officers 

A  Committee  on  Election  Officers  to  consist  of  5  members, 
which  shall  under  the  law,  with  the  President,  prepare  and 
present  the  official  list  of  Democratic  election  officers. 

Committee  on  Public  Meetings 

A  Committee  on  Public  Meetings  to  consist  of  7  members, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  prepare  a  list  of  Speakers,  from 
which  shall  be  assigned  such  number  as  may  be  requested  or 
may  be  necessary  in  the  proper  conduct  of  the  mass  and 
district  meetings  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  County  General 
or  an  Assembly  District  Committee. 

Committee  on  Sules 

A  Committee  on  Rules  to  consist  of  7  members,  whose  duty 
it  shall  be  to  consider  and  report  on  all  amendments  proposed 
to  existing  rules,  and  to  prepare,  consider  and  report  for  sub- 
mission at  the  meeting  of  the  County  Committee  called  for 
organization  a  set  of  rules  and  regulations,  which,  if  ap- 
proved by  such  County  Committee  and  not  thereafter  changed, 
shall  be  and  continue  the  rules  of  the  organization  for  the 
year  ensuing  thereafter. 

The  first  and  second  as  named  by  the  President  on  any 
Committee  shall  be  respectively  the  Chairman  and  Vice-Chair- 
man thereof. 

ABTICLE  VI.— Meetings 

The  regular  meetings  of  the  County  Committee  shall  be  held 
on  the  second  Thursday  of  each  month,  excepting  June,  July 

290 


APPENDIX 


and  August,  unless  otherwise  ordered  at  the  next  preceding 
meeting  of  the  Committee. 

Special  meetings  may  be  called  by  the  President,  stating  the 
object  of  the  meeting;  at  such  special  meetings  no  other  busi- 
ness shall  be  transacted. 

A  majority  of  all  the  members  elected  to  the  Committee  shall 
be  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business.  The  meetings  of 
the  Committee  shall  be  held  in  Executive  Session  on  a  request 
of  a  majority  of  the  members  present  at  any  meeting. 

ARTICLE  Vn.— Order  of  Business  and  Rules  of  Order 

(a)     The  order  of  business  shall  be  as  follows: 

1.  EoU  CaU. 

2.  Eeading  of  Minutes. 

3.  Reports  of  Standing  Committees. 

4.  Eeports  of  Special  Committees. 

5.  Communications. 

6.  Unfinished  business. 

7.  Miscellaneous  business. 

(&)  Motion  shall  not  be  put  or  debated  until  seconded;  and, 
when  seconded,  shall  be  stated  by  the  presiding  officer  before 
debate. 

All  resolutions  shall  be  reduced  to  writing  and  signed  by  the 
member  offering  the  same,  on  the  request  of  the  presiding 
officer  or  any  member  of  the  Committee. 

(c)  No  member  shall  speak  more  than  once  on  the  same 
question  to  the  exclusion  of  any  other  member,  and  no  member 
shall  speak  more  than  ten  minutes  at  a  time  without  the  gen- 
eral consent  of  the  Committee. 

(d)  On  any  question  the  yeas  and  nays  shall  be  taken,  if 
requested  by  one-third  of  the  members  present,  and  entered 
in  full  on  the  minutes. 

(e)  When  the  question  has  been  stated,  the  following  mo- 
tions and  no  other  shall  be  entertained.  To  amend,  to  amend 
the  amendment,  to  substitute,  to  lay  on  the  table,  to  refer  to 
the  Committee,  to  take  the  previous  question  and  adjourn.  A 
motion  to  adjourn  or  lay  on  the  table  shall  be  in  order  at  any 

291 


PARTY   ORGANIZATION    AND   MACHINERY 

time,  but  such  motions  m;iy  not  be  renewed  until  there  has  been 
intervening  business  and  shall  be  decided  without  debate. 

(f)  A  motion  to  reconsider  business  once  disposed  of  shall 
not  be  entertained  unless  moved  by  a  member  voting  with  the 
majority,  nor  unless  moved  at  the  same  or  the  next  meeting  of 
the  Committee. 

(g)  The  County  Committee  shall  not  entertain  any  motion 
or  resolution  recommending  any  person  for  any  office  not  to  be 
filled  by  election  by  the  people. 

(h)  In  all  cases  not  provided  for  in  the  foregoing  the 
Committee  shall  be  governed  by  the  Rules  as  laid  down  in 
Cushing's  Manual. 

ARTICLE  Vm.— Expulsion 

The  County  Committee  may  for  cause  expel  any  member  or 
declare  vacant  the  seat  of  any  member  by  an  affirmative  vote 
of  two-thirds  of  the  members  present  and  voting,  provided 
that  the  persons  voting  for  such  action  shall  constitute  a  ma- 
jority of  all  the  members  elected. 

ARTICLE  IX.— Seal 

This  Committee  shall  have  a  seal  with  the  words,  "Demo- 
cratic-Republican General  Committee  of  the  County  of  New 
York  Seal, ' '  thereon ;  such  seal  may  be  afl&xed  by  the  President 
or  by  the  Recording  Secretary  under  the  authority  of  the 
President  to  all  certificates  and  other  documents,  where  a 
seal  is  requisite  or  proper. 

ARTICLE  X.— Conventions 

All  candidates  for  elective  office  shall  be  nominated  at  con- 
ventions to  be  called  for  the  political  division  in  which  the 
nominee  shall  be  a  candidate. 

The  County  Committee  shall  apportion  the  delegates  to  each 
convention  among  the  several  units  of  representation  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  Primary  Election  Law. 

All  conventions  and  primaries  shall  be  called  by  the  General 
Committee. 

292 


APPENDIX 

Conventions  to  elect  delegates  to  the  Democratic  State  Con- 
vention shall  be  called  in  conformity  with  the  instructions  of 
the  Democratic  State  Committee. 

Conventions  to  elect  delegates  to  the  Democratic  City  Con- 
ventions shall  be  called  in  conformity  with  the  instructions  of 
the  Democratic  City  Committee. 

Delegates  to  all  Conventions  shall  be  elected  as  provided  by 
law. 

ARTICLE  XL— Unofficial  Primaries 

Unofficial  Primary  Elections  of  the  Democratic  Party  in 
the  County  of  New  York  may  be  authorized  and  directed  to  be 
held  by  resolution  duly  adopted  by  this  Committee.  This  Com- 
mittee may  designate  the  time  and  place  within  the  unit  of 
representation  for  which  such  unofficial  primary  election  shall 
be  held  in  accordance  with  the  Primary  Election  Law. 

ARTICLE  XII.— Substitutioa 

Substitutes  for  delegates  absent  from  Conventions  may  be 
chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  delegates  from  the  unit  of  repre- 
sentation in  which  such  vacancy  occurs. 

ARTICLE  XIII.— Amendments 

These  Eules  and  Regulations  may  be  amended  only  by  an 
affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds  of  all  the  members  elected  to 
the  General  Committee  present  at  a  regular  meeting  of  said 
Committee. 


293 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Adams,  Charles  Francis,  145 
Adams,  John,  99 
Addams,  Miss  Jane,  210 
Appointments  to  office,  27,  32, 

34,  36,  39 
Auditing  of  party  accounts,  218 
Australian  ballot,  133,  137 

Biparty  system,  VIII,  15,  16, 

20,  43 
Blaine,  James  G.,  75 
Blair,  Frank  P.,  180 
Bolingbroke,  VII 
Boston,  133,  136,  147,  158 
Bryan,  William  Jennings,  85 

Cabinet,  the  English,  15,  26,  41, 
43 

Cameron,  James  Donald,  149 

Cameron,  Simon,  148,  155 

Campaign,  the  presidential,  7, 
81 

Candidates  as  party  officers,  23 
contributions  of,  to  party  ex- 
penses, 220 

Caucus,  the  party,  59,  60,  137 
the  congressional,  26,   31,  61 

Chairman   of   national   commit- 
tee, 7,  8,  88 
of  state  committee  in  Penn- 
sylvania, 119,  131 

Cities,  effect  of,  on  parties,  109, 
111,  201,  203,  204 
elections  in,  8,  105 

Civil  service  reform,  37,  221, 
254 

Clay,  Henry,  29 


Clayton,  Powell,  75 

Cleveland,  President,  37,  51,  53, 

54 
College  League,  the  Republican, 

246 
Committee,  the  congressional, 
31,  40,  46,  50 
origin  of,  87 
how  chosen,  89,  90,  91 
the  national,  9,  40,  46 
origin  of,  66,  69 
relation    of,    to    candidate, 

79 
relation    of,    to    President, 
88 
Committee  system  in  Congress, 

45 
Congress,  in  party  organization 
and    leadership,    32,    37, 
38,  46 
Congressional  district  commit- 
tee, 50,  84,  94 
in  Indiana,   170 
in  Missouri,  182 
Constitution,    the    Federal,    11, 
13,  25,  49,  52,  98,  101 
Amendments  to,  101,  104 
Conventions,  defined,  61,  62 
County  committees  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, 108,  115,  128 
in  Indiana,  168,  170,  173 
County,    the,    influence    of,    on 
party   organization,   141, 
143,  201,  202,  205,  207 


Daniels,  Senator,  chairman  Dem- 
ocratic convention,  77 


297 


INDEX 


Democratic  party,  supports  the 
Union,  72 
official  title  of,  73,  198 
in  Pennsylvania,  127 
in  Massachusetts,  162,  163 
in  the  South,  194 
organized    to    resist   centrali- 
zation, 238 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  72 

Elections,  presidential,  7,  81, 
99 
of  representatives,  5,  36,  50, 

52,  102 
of  senators,  12,  47,  196 
a  state  function,  102,  103 
105 
Elective  franchise,  the,  103 

Federal  patronage  in  Philadel- 
phia, 213 
Fillmore,  President,  29 
Free-Soil  party,  145,  146 
Free  Trade  League,  247 
Fremont,  General  John  C,  176 

Garfield,  President,  37 
Government,  defined,  256 
Grange,  the,  248 
Grant,  President,  33,  35,  37,  38 
Greeley,  Horace,  179,  233 

Hampton,  General,  193 
Harcourt,  Sir  William,  269 
Harrison,  President  Benjamin, 

37 
President  William  H.,  28 
Hayes,  President,  32,  36,  38, 

54 
HiU,  David  B.,  77 

Ireland,  Home  Eule  party  in, 
190 

Jackson,  President,  26,  27,  55 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  99 
Johnson,  President,  30,  54,  87 
Jones,  Senator,  77,  85 


Knights  of  Labor,  249 
Know-nothing  party,  66,  146, 
189 

Labor  organizations,  225,  249 
Lincoln,  President,  30,  87,   176 
Louisiana  Lottery,  223 

McKinley,  President,  39,  84 

Mississippi,  194,  196 

Morgan,  Hon.  Edwin  D.,  chair- 
man first  Kepublican  con- 
vention, 68 

National  Leagues,  244 

Negro  voters  in  South  Carolina, 

193 
Nullifiers,  28,  30,  232 

Partitioning  of  governmental 

powers,  13,  18 
People 's  party  in  Pennsylvania, 

70,  149,  155 
Populist  party,  the,  228,  233, 

247 
Presidential  electors,  12,  99,  101 
Primary,  the,  defined,  57 
Primary  elections,  56,  60,  136, 

194,  196 
Protectionist  League,  the,  246 

Kace  problem,  the,  108,   176, 

189,  191,  193 
Eeferendum,  the,  and  popular 

initiative,  251 
Eepresentatives,  House  of,  in 
party  leadership,  52 
members  of,   consulted   as  to 

appointments,  34 
relations   of  members  to  the 
congressional   committee, 
46 
Kepublican  party,   becomes  the 
''Union"  party,  30,  72 
organization  of,  66 
prominence  of  machinery  in, 

237 
in  the  South,  197 


298 


INDEX 

Senate,  the,  election  to,  12,  47,  Taylor,  President,  28,  29,  30 

196  Tennessee,  186 

its  right  to  confirm  appoint-  Tyler,  President,  28 
ments,  33,  34 

Senatorial  courtesy,  33  *  *  Union ' '  Convention  of  1864, 
leadership,  47,  49,  51,  52,  124,  72 

145,  158,  173  Unit    Rule,   the,    in  the   Demo- 
Shearman,  Thomas  G.,  222  cratic  conventions,  83 
Slavery,    abolition   of,    in    Mis- 
souri, 176  Veto,  the  President 's,  31 
South  Carolina,  49,  59,  192,  193,  Voluntary  organization,  the 

195,  239  model  for  the  State,  259 
Speaker  of  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, 52,  53  Walpole,  VII 
Sumner,  Charles,  145,  146,  179  Washington,  George,  as  party 
Switzerland,  251,  253  leader,  21 

Weaver,  James  B.,  228 

Tammany  Hall,  198,  211,   213,  Webster,  Daniel,  150,  152 

243  Wilson,  Henry,  146 


299 


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